A New English Translation of the Septuagint. 34. Ieremiasccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/34-ieremias-nets.pdf · EDITION OF THE GREEK TEXT The New English Translation of the Septuagint

EDITION OF THE GREEK TEXTThe New English Translation of the Septuagint (NETS) version of Ieremias is based on the critical editionof Joseph Ziegler (Septuaginta: Vetus Testamentum Graecum Auctoritate Societatis Litterarum Gottingensis ed-itum XV: Ieremias Baruch Threni Epistula Ieremiae [Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1957]), though ina number of instances, notably in chapter 43, we have deviated from Ziegler’s edition. The deviation in52.24 (“way” > “threshold”) NETS owes to J. Smith.1 No systematic and thorough text-critical reassess-ment has, however, been carried out.

TRANSLATION PROFILE OF THE GREEKGeneral CharacterGiven that, according to opinio communis, Greek Jeremiah (hereafter Ieremias) is based on a Hebrew text

substantially at variance with MT, a comparison of the Greek with its source text is no straightforward task.It is nevertheless reasonably clear that the most basic norm of the translator (hereafter Ier2) was that of iso-morphism. That is to say, typically each morpheme of the source text is represented in the target text. Thisis true not only of so-called content words (lexemes) but as well of structure words. For example, Hebrewarticles, notae accusativi, infinitival prefix l, personal pronouns (even when rendered superfluous by Greekinflection), pronominal suffixes, pleonastic pronouns and adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions are allregularly represented, whether or not such representation results in standard Greek usage. Though certainstructural items are at times added in deference to Greek usage, this occurs almost exclusively at the levelof phrase and clause and rarely at the level of discourse. Moreover, deference to Greek literary style wasoften trumped by Ier’s isomorphism, as a result of which Greek articles are notably in short supply.

Be it noted, however, that isomorphism need not mean lexical or grammatical consistency. Thus He-brew prepositions may at times trigger Greek articles, in the same sort of way that a Hebrew lexeme maybe assigned a number of Greek counterparts, differentiated according to contextual demand, whether lin-guistic or expositional, even though the context may be rather narrowly conceived.

In spite of its isomorphism, Ieremias is usually intelligible though rarely elegant. Yet the reader en-counters many instances of unintelligibility. As good an example as any is perhaps 52.19, the more sinceit contains transcriptions (see further below): kai\ ta\ saffwq kai\ ta\ masmarwq kai\ tou\j u9poxuth~rajkai\ ta\j luxni/aj kai\ ta\j qui/skaj kai\ tou\j kua/qouj, a4 h]n xrusa~ xrusa~ kai\ a4 h]n a0rgura~ a0rgura~, e1labeno9 a0rxima/geiroj. Though this line is an exact representation of the Hebrew source text—which was evi-dently very much like MT—what was a Greek reader without access to the Hebrew to make of it? NETShas glossed it as: “And the chief cook took away the saphphoth and the masmaroth and the pitchers andthe lampstands and the censers and the ladles, which were gold gold and which were silver silver,” witha few notes attached to help the reader of English. Problems encountered by Ier in the source text are typ-ically passed on to the reader. Difficulties, too, may be caused by uncertain referents/antecedents ofpronominals (e.g., 27.44; 29.14, 20; 42.2). Especially the Oracles Against the Nations (OAN) presentmany uncertainties of various kinds. All the same, Ier is not totally oblivious to Greek literary conven-tions. So for example in 4.23–26 he renders the fourfold yty)r (“I looked at”) of his source into twopairs of e0pe/bleya . . . ei]don. All in all, though, Ieremias often lacks semantic transparency, because toolittle attention was paid to units of discourse beyond the clausal level.

Stipp rightly notes that “diese Übersetzung auf sprachliche Glätte wenig Rücksicht nahm und in äs-thetischer Hinsicht ihren Lesern nicht entgegenkam.”3

1 Jannes Smith, “Jeremiah 52: Thackeray and Beyond,” BIOSCS 35 (2002) 55–96, esp. 83. 2 The label is not intended to preclude more than one translator.3 Hermann-Josef Stipp, Das masoretische und alexandrinische Sondergut des Jeremiabuches (Freiburg/Göttingen:

Universitätsverlag/Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1994) 27 (“This translation paid little attention to linguistic polishand aesthetically failed to accommodate its readers.”)

IEREMIASTO THE READER

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Of Consistency and InconsistencyThough Ier’s most basic norm is that of isomorphism, as noted, this does not need to mean a heavy

emphasis on lexical/grammatical consistency. As a result, predictable Hebrew-Greek equivalency and iso-morphism may be quite distinct. While lack of consistency can suggest different agents—whether trans-lators or revisers—it is equally true that one and the same agent may make use of such inconsistency toslip into his text interpretive elements, whether of purely local import or possibly with a larger scope. Weare here interested in such marked usage, especially those instances that are not readily explained asobligatory differentiation in the target language. Here we note some interesting examples. Though thetextual facts are clear, the reasons for them are not always so. In each case, the item in question is dis-tributed throughout the book.

Variation at the Word Level1a nekro/j (“corpse”) 7.33; 9.22; 19.7; 40.51b qnhsimai=on (“carcass”) 16.18; 41.20; 43.30In all but 40.5 the Hebrew term is hlbn, used for a dead body of human and animal alike. Though

in this case one can scarcely speak of a default Hebrew-Greek equivalency, the difference in renderingnevertheless invites examination. Since Greek, like English, differentiates, one might expect that 1a de-notes deceased humans and 1b dead animals. When one finds that, in fact, both terms are used to de-scribe human dead, qnhsimai=on shows itself to be a marked usage and based on contextual considera-tions. So it seems safe to say that Ier did not think well of King Ioakim, alive or dead (43.30). As mightbe expected, in Leuitikon (Leviticus) qnhsimai=on is standard, with the sole exception of 21.5 where refer-ence is made to a human.

2a a0llo/trioi qeoi/ (“strange/foreign gods”) 1.16; 5.19; 7.6, 9, 18; 11.10; 13.10; 16.11; 19.4, 13; 22.9;25.6. In all instances, with the exception of 5.19 (=rkn), a0llo/trioi is a rendition of rx).

2b e3teroi qeoi/ (“other gods”) 16.13; 39.29; 42.15; 51.3, 5, 8, 15. All cases gloss rx).The default in this case is reasonably clear. Reasonably clear too would seem to be Ier’s reason for dif-

ferentiation. Though Israel’s pursuit of “foreign ways” is already noted in the Hebrew source text, signalednotably by Myrz (2.25; 3.13; 5.19; 18.14; 37[30].8) and rkn (2.21; 5.19; 8.19; 19.4)—all nine glossedby a0llo/trioj—Ier makes it more explicit by differentiating between the worship of “strange/foreigngods” in the homeland (e.g., 5.19) and the worship of “other (non-Yahweh) gods” once the people havebeen forced to leave their homeland. The same difference in perspective can be seen in Deuteronomy be-tween chapters 4–30 (e3teroj), on the one hand, and 31–32 (a0llo/trioj), on the other, though Deut31.16 and 32.12 have explicit warrant for differentiation in the Hebrew.

3a profh/thj (“prophet”) 1.5; 2.8, 26, 30; 4.9; 5.13, 31; 7.25; 8.1; 13.13; 14.13, 14, 15(bis), 18; 18.18;23.6, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 21, 25, 26, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34; 25.4; 28.59; 33.5; 34.12, 13, 15; 35.8, 9(bis);36.15; 39.32; 42.15; 44.19; 49.2; 50.6; 51.4, 31.

3b yeudoprofh/thj (“pseudo-prophet”) 6.13; 33.7, 8, 11, 16; 34.7; 35.1; 36.1, 8. In both cases, all theglosses are for )ybn.

Ier’s standard gloss is patently obvious and both items are distributed throughout the book, althoughnot evenly so. Be it noted, however, that when “pseudo-prophet” appears on the scene “prophet” by nomeans disappears. Since a prophet does not become a pseudo-prophet (a word which arguably origi-nated with Ier) by prophesying by Baal (2.8) nor by prophesying what is wrong (5.31) or lies in theLord’s name (23.25) nor by not having been sent by the Lord (14.15) nor by being defiled (23.11) orcausing defilement (23.15) nor by rendering a vision empty (23.16) or projecting his own thoughts(23.26), it is not immediately clear how a prophet could become a pseudo-prophet. Yet, it is in fact quitepossible that Ier is basing his differentiation on Ier 35.9 (= Deut 18.22). That is to say, a prophet isshown to be a pseudo-prophet when what he predicts does not happen. Since after the panoramicoverview of 1–32, chapter 33.1 starts the tale of the book anew on a more horizontal plane (see furtherbelow), it makes sense that pseudo-prophets should not be shown to exist until chapter 33. Though theterm already appears proleptically in 6.13, it does not become applicable until the predicted events arebeginning to unfold.

4a a1rxwn (“magistrate/ruler”) 1.18; 2.26; 4.9; 8.1; 17.25 (bis); 24.1; 30.3; 31.7; 32.4; 33.10, 11, 12, 16,21; 39.32; 41.19, 21; 42.4; 43.12, 14, 21; 44.14, 15; 45.22, 25, 27; 51.17, 21; 52.10. All translate r#.a1rxwn further has no translation equivalent in 51.9.


4b h9gemw&n (“leader”) 45.17; 46.3(bis); 47.7, 13; 48.11, 13, 16; 49.1, 8; 50.4, 5. All translate r#.h9gemw&n further translates hxp in 28.23, 57 (cf. v. 28).

4c dunasth/j (“one with power”) 41.19. Though this term translates r#, it functions as a replacementfor Ml#wry yr#. Evidently, Ier did not know what to do with the sequence yr# of Judah and yr# ofJerusalem.

4d megista/n (“noble”) 24.8; 25.18; 27.35; 32.5; 41.10. All translate r#. megista/n further translatesrd) in 14.3.

Though 4a is Ier’s default, 4a, 4b and 4d have wide distribution in the book. Since for Ier the a1rxontejare clearly local magistrates, such terminology is evidently deemed inappropriate when the source textspeaks of military personnel. That the latter should appear predominantly in later chapters of the bookis simply a matter of contents. Both a1rxwn and h9gemw&n are apparently deemed inappropriate when thesocial elites come into view. Ier clearly does not adhere to a lexical correspondence but differentiatesbased on context.

5a e0nte/llomai (“command”) 1.7, 17; 7.22, 23(bis), 31; 11.4(bis); 13.5, 6; 14.14; 17.22; 19.5; 23.32;27.21; 28.59; 29.7; 39.23; 42.6, 10, 14, 18; 43.5, 8, 26; 45.10, 27.

5b sunta/ssw (“instruct”) 33.2, 8; 34.3; 36.23; 39.13, 35; 41.22; 44.21. In both cases all the glosses arefor hwc pi.

Again Ier’s default rendering of the source item is not in doubt nor, for that matter, that this renderingoccurs throughout the book, as a result of which the marked item stands in bold relief. It is of interestthat, although e0nte/llomai is the Septuagintal favorite, most other books show a comparable mix of thetwo terms. A quick count of the Pentateuch reveals the following statistics: e0nte/llomai Gen 18x, Ex 18x,Leu 16x, Num 18x, Deut 82x; sunta/ssw Gen 2x, Ex 3x, Leu 12x, Num 27x, Deut 2x. That synonymy de-termined translational usage to a degree is likely, but it can hardly be the whole story. If e0nte/llomai con-notes “to give definite orders, implying authority or official function” (emphasis added), as Louw and Nida4

note (33.329), not only does the deuteronomic imbalance become understandable, given the nature ofthe book, but also the occasional use of sunta/ssw in Ieremias. A case in point is 39.13 in distinctionfrom 43.5, 8. While in the former the prophet gives Barouch instructions (sunta/ssw) about the safe-keeping of a business document, the issue in the latter is that, since Ieremias is in custody, Barouch iscommissioned (e0nte/llomai) to read Ieremias’ book of oracles in the temple.

What is at issue in the all-too-few examples offered above is not, in the first instance, a “correct” match-ing of source text and target text but a differentiation in the target language due to context. Hence thevariations are not formal but semantic.

Variation at the Phrase/Clause LevelWhen one moves from the word level to the phrase/clause level, inconsistency for the same Hebrew

continues, though again against a general background of consistency. A few examples will have to suffice.6a sthri/zw to\ pro/swpon 21.10 (cf. 24.6 sthri/zw tou\j o0fqalmou/j)6b di/dwmi to\ pro/swpon 49.156c ti/qhmi to\ pro/swpon 49.17 (cf. 47.4 ti/qhmi o0fqalmou/j)6d e0fi/sthmi to\ pro/swpon 51.11.In the four chief instances the gloss is for ynp M# (“set the face”), with the two added ones for yn( M#

(“set the eye”). That 21.10 and 24.6 should use the same Greek verb might be expected in view of closesimilarity in context, but that 49.15 and 49.17 should differ is more difficult to explain, since referenceis being made to the same act by the same group of people. Similarly unclear is the reason for e0fi/sthmiin 51.11. The point to be made, however, is that the translator’s choice though governed by isomorphism,is evidently not necessarily governed by lexical consistency with the source text.

A second example occurs in chapter 41. The Hebrew idiom, tyrb trk (“make a covenant”), occursfour times within this chapter, namely in vv. 8, 13, 15, 18, but in three different forms.

7a suntele/w diaqh/khn 41.8, 157b diati/qhmai diaqh/khn 41.137c poie/w diaqh/khn 41.18Given the fact that the standard Septuagintal equivalent for tyrb trk is diati/qhmai diaqh/khn (at

times with the simplex verb) and that both Ier 39.40 and 41.13 feature this idiom, the two deviant forms

4 J. P. Louw and E. A. Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains (2 vols.; New York:United Bible Societies, 1988).

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come as a surprise, the more since they appear nowhere else in the Septuagint. The issue for Ier in allthree verses is evidently the same, namely, that the diaqh/kh in question is not the covenant made with Is-rael by divine initiative. In 41.8, 15 it is an agreement for release between Sedekias and the people. Verse18 in both MT (34.18) and LXX contains a possible reference to the golden calf episode (Ex 32), but inthe latter the diaqh/kh of Sedekias and his ilk is thrashed along with the calf—even though it is ratherwoodenly expressed.

Earlier in Ieremias a similar level of variation obtains both in the Hebrew > Greek direction and viceversa.

8a ta/ssw + O(bject) + OC (object complement) 2.15; 3.198b ti/qhmi + O(bject) + OC (object complement) 13.16 (pass. transformation); 22.6; 27.38c di/dwmi + O(bject) + OC (object complement) 38.31In all six cases the Hebrew verb is ty# (“put/set”)

9a kata/skion (cu/lon) 2.209b a0lsw~dej (cu/lon) 3.6; 3.13; 17.89c eu0ski/on (cu/lon) 11.16What is of interest here is not only that all three translate Hebrew Nn(r and that all have reference to

“trees,” but that in 2.20; 3.6, 13 these trees are sites of whoredom, as a result of which one might haveexpected kata/skioj to have been used in all three. On the other hand, in 11.16 and 17.8 a flourishingtree is a metaphor for Iouda (Judah) and for a person who trusts in the Lord respectively. Thus one mightexpect the same descriptive to have been used. Again, the central point to be made is that Ier was notstuck on strict lexical correspondence even when the contexts are similar or identical.

We close the discussion in this section with a rather lengthy doublet, namely, Ier 10.12–17 and28(51).15–19. While the two passages are identical in MT (apart from the added “Israel” in 10.16), theGreek shows some rather remarkable differences:

10.12 ku/rioj o9 poih/saj th\n gh=n e0n th=| i0sxu/i au0tou=, o9 a0norqw/saj th\n oi0koume/nhn28.15 poiw~n gh=n e0n th=| i0sxu/i au0tou=, e9toima/zwn oi0koume/nhn

10.12 e0n th=| sofi/a| au0tou= kai\ th=| fronh/sei au0tou= e0ce/teine to\n ou0rano\n28.15 e0n th=| sofi/a| au0tou= e0n th=| sune/sei au0tou= e0ce/teine to\n ou0rano/n

10.13 kai\ plh=qoj u3datoj e0n ou0ranw~| kai\ a0nh/gage nefe/laj28.16 ei0j fwnh\n ee1qeto h}xoj u3datoj e0n tw~| ou0ranw~| kai\ a0nh/gage nefe/laj

10.13 e0c e0sxa/tou th=j gh=j, a0strapa\j ei0j u9eto\n e0poi/hse28.16 a0p 0 e0sxa/tou th=j gh=j, a0strapa\j ei0j u9eto\n e0poi/hse

10.13 kai\ e0ch/gage fw~j e0k qhsaurw~n au0tou=28.16 kai\ e0ch/gage fw~j e0k qhsaurw~n au0tou=

10.14 e0mwra/nqh pa=j a0nqrwpoj a0po\ gnw/sewj28.17 e0mataiw/qh pa=j a0nqrwpoj a0po\ gnw/sewj

10.14 kath|sxu/nqh pa=j xrusoxo/oj e0pi\ toi=j gluptoi=j au0tou=28.17 kath|sxu/nqh pa=j xrusoxo/oj a0po\ tw~n gluptw~n au0tou=

10.14 o3ti yeudh= e0xw/neusan, ou0k e1sti pneu=ma e0n au0toi=j28.17 o3ti yeudh= e0xw/neusan, ou0k e1sti pneu=ma e0n au0toi=j

10.15 ma/taia/ e0stin, e1rga e0mpepaigme/na, e0n kairw~| e0piskoph=j au0tw~n a0polou=ntai28.18 ma/taia/ e0stin, e1rga memwkhme/na, e0n kairw~| e0piske/yewj au0tw~n a0polou=ntai

10.16 ou0k e1sti toiau/th meri\j tw~| Iakwb28.19 ou0 toiau/th meri\j tw~| Iakwb


10.16 o3ti o9 pla/saj ta\ pa/nta au0to\j klhronomi/a au0tou=, ku/rioj o1noma au0tw~|28.19 o3ti o9 pla/saj ta\ pa/nta au0to/j e0sti klhronomi/a au0tou=, ku/rioj o1noma au0tw~|The point here is that even when one makes due allowance for textual difference between MT and the

source text of Ier, one is still left with a considerable number of both stylistic and interpretational differ-ences—and that in what is a patent doublet on the Hebrew side.

TranscriptionsTranscriptions of Hebrew—as well as some translations that might better have been transferred as tran-

scriptions—are found in considerable number throughout Ieremias. In some cases Ier may have had asource text different from MT, while at other times his source text may have been unintelligible to him.Be that as it may, our interest here, again, is in translational norms. As noted above, a basic norm for Ierwas that of isomorphism, i.e., that each morpheme of the source text be represented in the target text.The transcriptions give plenty of evidence of that. Accordingly, items are transcribed even though theymake little or no sense in the target text: asida (8.7), agour (8.7), manaa (17.26; 48[41].5), aided(31[48].33; 32.16[25.30], siwnim (38[31].21), timrwrim (38[31].21), asarhmwq (38[31].40), saffwq(52.19), masmarwq (52.19); similarly, transcriptions are supplied with articles when the source text hasan article and/or nota accusativi, gender and number being gleaned from the source: th=j xarsiq (19.2),th\n xereq (44[37].16), ta\ saffwq (52.19), ta\ masmarwq (52.19).

Also noted above—against the backdrop of lexical and grammatical consistency—was that Ier oftendeviates from defaults for, at times, clearly contextual reasons. That too is reflected in the transcriptions.Although one finds oi1mmoi ku/rie for Nwd) ywh (“O lord”) in 22.18, in 41(34).5 we have w@ adwn. Like-wise, manaa for hxnm (“grain offering”) occurs in 17.26 and 48(41).5 while qusi/a and dw~ron (MThxwnm) appear respectively in 14.12 and 28(51)59—both well attested glosses in the LXX. For lxn(“brook”) we have naxal in 38(31).40, xeima/rrouj in 29(47).2 and diw~ruc in 38(31).9, and for hrcb(“Bozrah”) 31(48).24 has Bosor, but 29.23(49.22) has o0xurw&mata au0th~j. Thirdly, there is evidencehere of Ier’s penchant for working at the lower levels of constituent structure at the expense of the largerunits of discourse. One such case is Arxabin in 42(35).2. Though the Hebrew is a plural gentilic, theGreek transcription is a (singular) name. In the following clause Ier fails to represent the plural suffixesby singular pronouns, thereby creating a puzzling text. A reverse example is 29.14(49.13) where e0n me/sw|au0th=j represents hrcb (“Bozrah”). Though it may be that, as BHS suggests, the source text differed fromMT, the point at issue remains: What can “in her midst” mean in the context? Of a similar kind is Ier’smisreading of rwcx (“Hazor”) throughout the Oracle Against Kedar (30.6[49.28], 8[30], 11[33]) as au0lh/(rcx). Yet another, very awkward one, is par 0 e0mou~ for ynm (“Minni”) in a series of names. For additionaltranscriptions see Sor (21.13), Iwsedek (23.6), Sawn esbi emwhd (26[46].17), Enakim (29[47].5), Aiqan(27[50].44; 29.20[49.19]), Kedem (30.6[49.28]), Ataq and Atat (31[48].1, 39), Zogora (31[48].4, cf. v.34), Akkariwq (31(48)41), fasek (38[31].8), aselishl (45[38].14), and finally an inflected example:xauw~nej (7.18; 51[44].19).

In sum, the transcriptions are a good index to the book’s textual-linguistic makeup.

THE NETS TRANSLATION OF IEREMIASThis translation aims to be a faithful representation of the Greek text, including many of the warts onefinds along the way. In that light the reader should not be surprised to encounter from time to time lessthan felicitous or even questionable English. For example, since the use of pleonastic adverbs and pro-nouns is characteristic of the translator’s isomorphism, we have tried to mimic this usage without, wehope, producing unintelligible English. As a result, 11.11 e.g., reads “Behold I am bringing evil upon thispeople from which they will not be able to escape from it” rather than without the final two words. Thetranslation is therefore often one of formal equivalence, reflective of the relationship deemed to exist be-tween the Greek and its Hebrew source.

In an effort to capture the distinctiveness of some of the key, recurring formulae in Ieremias, we haveopted for “This is what the Lord says” (ta/de le/gei ku/rioj) and “says the Lord” (le/gei ku/rioj) in distinc-tion from “Thus did the Lord say” (ou3twj ei]pe ku/rioj) and “quoth the Lord” (fhsi\ ku/rioj). Though“quoth” is admittedly not current English usage and in form is said to be past tense, it has the distinctadvantage of underscoring the quotative use of fhsi/.5

Though NETS has followed the NRSV in its formatting of Hebrew prose in distinction from poetry, this

5 For a discussion of the bisectioning of Greek Jeremiah, see http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/ PropheticalBooks, Ieremias, “To the Reader of Ieremias.”

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should not be taken to mean either that the Greek translator made a conscious distinction between thetwo or that the Greek text contains poetry.

In pursuance of NETS policy, footnotes have been kept to a minimum, though we have supplied cer-tain helps to the English reader that would not have been available to a Greek reader.

EDITORIAL DETAILSince Ziegler’s critical edition rather than Rahlfs’ Handausgabe has functioned as base text, the num-

bering of chapters and verses is that of Ziegler. For the most part Ziegler and Rahlfs coincide, but thereare a few wrinkles:

Zi 9.1–26 = Ra 8.23–9.25Zi 10.5a = Ra 10.9aZi 26.1 = Ra 25.20Zi 26.1 = Ra 26.2Zi 29.1–23 = Ra 29.1–16Zi 29.8–23 = Ra 30.1–16Zi 30.1–16 = Ra 30.17–33Zi 32.1–24 = Ra 32.15–38Zi 34.1–18 = Ra 34.2–22

ALBERT PIETERSMA and MARC SAUNDERS

1 The dictum of God which came to Ieremiasthe son of Chelkias of the priests, who was liv-

ing in Anathoth in the land of Beniamin; 2a wordof God which came to him in the days of KingIosias son of Amos of Iouda, in the thirteenth yearof his reign. 3And it came in the days of KingIoakim son of Iosias of Iouda, until the eleventhyear of King Sedekias son of Iosias of Iouda, untilthe captivity of Ierousalem in the fifth month.

4 And a word of the Lord came to him, sayinga,5 “Before I formed you in the belly, I knew

you,and before you came forth from the womb,

I had consecrated you;a prophet to nations I had made you.”

6And I said, “You That Are, Sovereign, Lord! Be-hold, I do not know how to speak, because I amrather young.” 7And the Lord said to me,

“Do not say, ‘I am rather young,’because you shall go to all to whom I send

you,and you shall speak according to all I

command you.8 Do not be afraid before them,

because I am with you to deliver you,says the Lord.”

9And the Lord stretched out his hand to me andtouched my mouth, and the Lord said to me,

“Behold, I have given my words to yourmouth.

10 Behold, today I have appointed you overnations and over kingdoms,

to uproot and to pull down and to destroy

and to rebuild and to plant.

11 And a word of the Lord came to me, saying,“Ieremiasa, what do you see?” And I said, “A staffof nut wood.” 12And the Lord said to me, “Youhave seen well, for I am watchful over my words toperform them.” 13And a word of the Lord came tome a second time, saying, “What do you see?” AndI said, “A cauldron being heated, and its faceb isfrom the north.”

14 And the Lord said to me: From the face ofthe north evil shall flare up against all the inhabi-tants of the land, 15for behold, I am summoningall the kingdoms from the north of the earth, saysthe Lord, and they shall come, and they shall set,each his throne against the entrances of the gatesof Ierousalem and against all its surrounding wallsand against all the cities of Iouda. 16And I willspeak to them with judgment about all theirwickedness, how they forsook me and burned in-cense to foreign gods and did obeisance to theworks of their own hands. 17And you, gird up yourloins, and stand up, and tell them everything thatI command you. Do not be afraid by their pres-ence, nor be terrified before them, because I amwith you to deliver you,

says the Lord.18Behold, I have made you in this very day like astrong city and like a strong bronze wall, to all thekings of Iouda and its rulers and the people of theland. 19And they will fight you, and they shall notprevail against you, for I am with you to deliveryou,

says the Lord.

2 2And he said, This is what the Lord says:I remembered the mercy of your youth

aOm = Zi bI.e. opening


882 ieremias 2

and the love of your growing up,how you followed the holy one of Israel,

says the Lord.3 [Israel was holy to the Lord,]

the firstfruit of his products.All who eat him will err;

evil will come upon them,says the Lord.

4 Hear a word of the Lord, O house of Iakoband the whole paternal family of the house of Is-rael. 5This is what the Lord says:

What error did your fathers find in methat they stood far from me

and went after worthless things and becameworthless themselves?

6 And they did not say, “Where is the Lordwho brought us up out of the land of

Egypt,who led us in the wilderness,

in a land boundless and trackless,in a land waterless and fruitless,

in a land that nothing passed in itand no person settled there?”

7 And I brought you into Carmelthat you eat its fruit and its good things.

And you entered, and you defiled my landand made my heritage an abomination.

8 The priests did not say, “Where is the Lord?”and those who hold fast to the law did

not know me,and the shepherds would act impiously

toward me,and the prophets would prophesy by the

goddess Baaland went after what does not profit.

9 Therefore once more I will go to law withyou,

says the Lord,and I will go to law with your sons’ sons,

10 for cross to islands of Chettiim and see,and send to Kedar and examine with care,and see if such things have happened:

11 Will nations change their gods?And these are no gods.

But my people have changed their gloryfor one from which they will not profit.

12 The sky was appalled at thisand shuddered more and more,

says the Lord,13 because my people in fact committed two

evils:they forsook me, fountain of living water,

and they dug out cracked cisterns forthemselves

that will not be able to hold water.

14 Surely Israel is not a slave or a homebred one?Why has he become plunder?

15 Lions would roar against himand gave forth their voice,

who turned his land into a wilderness,and his cities were torn down,to the point that they are not inhabited.

16 And sons of Memphis and Taphnas knewyou

and used to mock you.(17) Has not your abandoning of me brought

about these things for you?(17)says the Lord, your God.

18 And now, what do you have to do with theroad to Egypt,

to drink the water of Geon?And what do you have to do with the road

to the Assyrians,to drink the water of rivers?

19 Your apostasy will discipline you,and your wickedness will convict you.

Both know and see that it is bitterfor you to forsake me,

says the Lord, your God,and I took no pleasure in you,

says the Lord, your God.20 because long ago you shattered your yoke

and burst your bonds,and you said, “I will not be a slave,

but I will go on every high hilland under every shady tree;there I will sprawl in my whoredom.”

21 Yet I planted you as a fruitful vine,from pure stock.

How did you turn to bitterness,you foreign vine?

22 Though you wash yourself with nitreand multiply herbsa for yourself,

you have become stained by your injusticesbefore me,

says the Lord.23 How will you say, “I was not defiled,

and I did not go after the goddess Baal”?Look at your ways in the common burial

placeand know what you did.

Her voice cried out in the evening.24 She widened her ways to the waters of the

wilderness; she was bwindborneb

by the cravings of her soul.She was handed over.

Who will turn her back?None who seek her will toil hard;

in her humiliation they will find her.25 Turn your foot from a rough way

and your throat from thirst.But she said, “I will play the man,”

because she had loved foreignersand would go after them.

26 Like a thief’s shame when he is caught,so the sons of Israel shall be shamed,

they and their kings and their rulersand their priests and their prophets.

27 They said to the tree, “You are my father,”

aI.e. with medicinal qualities bPossibly inspired


ieremias 2–3 883

and to the stone, “You gave me birth.”And they turned backs to me,

and not their faces.And in the time of their trouble they will

say,“Rise up, and save us!”

28 And where are your godsthat you made for yourself,

if they will rise up and save youin your time of trouble?—

because according to the number of yourcities

were your gods, O Iouda,and according to the number of

Ierousalem’s streetsthey were sacrificing to the goddess Baal.

29 Why do you speak to me?You all acted impiously,and you all acted lawlessly against me,

says the Lord.30 In vain I have struck your children;

discipline you did not accept.A dagger devoured your prophets

like a ravening lion, and you did not fear.31 Hear a word of the Lord!

This is what the Lord says:Surely I have not become a wilderness to

Israelor a dried-out land?

Why did my people say, “We will not beruled,

and we will come to you no more”?32 Surely a bride will not forget her

adornment,and a virgin her breast band?

Yet my people forgot me,days without number.

33 Why is it that you will take exceptional carein your ways to seek affection?

Not so, but in fact you acted wickedlyto defile your ways.

34 Also on your hands was found blood ofinnocent souls.

I did not find them in trenchesbut at every oak.

35 And you said, “I am innocent;only let his anger be turned from me.”

Behold, I am going to law with youfor saying, “I did not sin.”

36 Whatever did you greatly despiseso as to repeat your ways?

And you shall be put to shame by Egyptas you were put to shame by Assour,

37 because also from there you will come away,and your hands will be on your head,

because the Lord has rejected your hope,and you will not prosper through it.

3 If a man dismisses his wifeand she goes from him

and becomes another man’s,surely, if she returns, she will not return

any more to him?Surely when she becomes polluted,

that woman will be polluted?And you have played the whore with many

shepherds,and would you return to me?

says the Lord.2 Raise your eyes straight ahead, and see!

Where have you not been contaminated?By the ways you have sat for them

like a desolate crow.And you polluted the land

with your whoring and wickedness.3 And you had many shepherds

as an obstacle to yourself;you got a harlot’s look;

you behaved shamelessly toward all.4 Did you not, as it were, call me Home

and Father and Originator of yourmaidenhood?

5 Surely, ita will not remain forever,nor will ita be maintained to victory?

Behold, you spoke,and you did these evils, and you prevailed.

6 And the Lord said to me in the days of KingIosias: Have you seen what the settlementb of Isra-el did to me? They went to every high mountainand under every woodland tree and played thewhore there. 7And I said after she did all thesethings, “Return to me,” but she did not return, andfaithless Iouda saw her faithlessness. 8And I sawthat for everything in which the settlementb of Is-rael was caught, [in which she committed adul-tery], and I sent her away and gave her a documentof dismissal, and faithless Iouda did not fear, butshe too went and played the whore. 9And herwhoredom came to nothing, and she committedadultery with tree and stone. 10And in all thesethings faithless Iouda did not return to me withher whole heart, but only in pretense.

11 And the Lord said to me: Israel has justifiedhis soul vis-à-vis faithless Iouda. 12Go, and readthese words toward the north, and you will say:

Return to me, settlementb of Israel,says the Lord,

and I will not set my face against you,because merciful am I,

says the Lord,and I will not cherish wrath against you

forever.13 Only acknowledge your injustice,

that you acted impiously against the Lordyour God

and poured out your ways to foreignersunder every woodland tree,

but you did not obey my voice,says the Lord.

14 Return, O apostate sons,says the Lord,

aI.e. maidenhood bPossibly colony


884 ieremias 3–4

for I will be your lord,and I will take you, one from a city and two

from a paternal family,and I will bring you into Sion.

15 And I will give you shepherds after my ownheart, and in shepherding they will shepherd youwith skill. 16And it will be, if you multiply and in-crease in the land, in those days, says the Lord, theyshall no longer say, “Ark of the covenant of theholy one of Israel.” It shall not come up in theheart; it shall not be named nor be considered, andit shall not be made again. 17In those days and atthat time they shall call Ierousalem “The Lord’sthrone,” and all the nations shall be gathered intoher, and they shall no longer walk after the notionsof their own evil heart. 18In those days the houseof Iouda shall join the house of Israel, and theyshall come to the same place from a land of thenorth and from all the countries to the land that Igave their fathers for a heritage.

19 And I said, “May it be, O Lord,”because I will make you as children

and will give you a choice landas a heritage of God Almighty of

nations,and I said, “You will call me Father

and will not be turned away from me.”20 Instead, as a woman is faithless toward her

mate,so the house of Israel was faithless toward

me,says the Lord.

21 From lips was heard a voice of weepingand of pleading of Israel’s sons,

because they did wrong in their ways,they forgot their holy God.

22 Return, O sons who are given to turning,and I will heal your fractures.

“We here will be yours,because you are the Lord, our God.

23 Truly the hills and the power of themountains

were a delusion,but through the Lord, our God,

is the salvation of Israel.24 “But from our youth Shame has devoured

the labors of our fathers, their sheep and their bullcalves and their sons and their daughters. 25We laydown in our shame, and our dishonor covered us;for we have sinned against our God, we and our fa-thers, from our youth until this day, and we havenot obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”

4 If Israel returns,says the Lord,

to me he shall return,if he removes his abominations from his

mouth

and shows reverence because of mypresence

2 and if he swears, “The Lord lives!”with truth in judgment and in

uprightness,nations shall also bless in him,

and in him they shall praise God inIerousalem,

3 because this is what the Lord says to themen of Iouda and to the inhabitantsof Ierousalem:

Renew for yourselves what has been madenew,

and do not sow among thorns.4 Be circumcised to your God,

and remove the foreskin of your heart,O men of Iouda and inhabitants of

Ierousalem,or else my anger goes forth like fire

and will blaze forth, and there will be noone to quench

because of the evil of your doings.

5 Declare in Iouda, and let it be heard in Ierou-salem; say:

Give a sign with a trumpet in the land,and cry greatly; say:

“Gather together, and let us enterinto the walled cities!”

6 Take up, and flee to Sion;hurry, do not stop,

because I am bringing evil from the north,and a great destruction.

7 A lion has gone up from its lair;an utter destroyer of nations has set out,and he has gone out from his place

to make the land a desolation,and cities will be ruined,to the point they are not inhabited.

8 For these things put on sackcloth,and lament and wail,

for the anger of the Lord has not turnedaway from us.

9And it shall be on that day, says the Lord, that theheart of the king shall perish, and the heart of therulers, and the priests shall be amazed, and theprophets astounded. 10And I said, “You That Are,O Sovereign, Lord! So then, when misleading youmisled this people and Ierousalem, saying, ‘Thereshall be peace.’ And behold, the dagger reached asfar as their life.”

11 At that time they will say to this people andto Ierousalem: There is a spirit of wandering in thewilderness, a way of the daughter of my people notto what is clean nor to what is holy. 12A spirit offillinga will come to me, but now I speak judg-ments against them.13 Behold, he will come up like a cloud,

and his chariots like a whirlwind;his horses are swifter than eagles—

aOr satisfaction


ieremias 4–5 885

woe to us, because we are wretched.14 O Ierousalem, wash your heart of

wickednessso that you may be saved.

How long are thoughts of your troublewithin you?—

15 for a voice of one declaring will come fromDan,

and trouble will be heard from MountEphraim.

16 Remind nations, “Behold, they have come!”Proclaim in Ierousalem,

“Bands come from a land far away,and they gave forth their voice against the

cities of Iouda.17 They came against her all round like

watchers of a field,because you neglected me,

says the Lord.18 Your ways and your doings

have done these things to you.This is your wickedness, because it is bitter,

because it reached your heart.”

19 My belly, I feel pain in my belly and in thefaculties of my heart.

My soul quivers with excitement!My heart is beating wildly;

I cannot keep silent,because my soul heard a trumpet sound,

a cry of war.20 And distress calls upon disaster,

because the whole land has becomedistressed.

Suddenly the tent has become distressed,my skins torn up.

21 How long will I see people fleeing,while I hear the sound of trumpets?—

22 “for the leaders of my people did not knowme;

they are stupid sons,and they have no understanding.

They are skilled in doing evilbut did not know how to do good.”

23 I looked on the earth, and behold, there wasnothing,

and to the sky, and it had no lights.24 I saw the mountains, and they were

trembling,and all the hills were being disturbed.

25 I looked, and behold, there was no human,and all the birds of the air were being

terrified.26 I saw, and behold, Carmel was a wilderness,

and all the cities burned up before theLord,

and before the wrath of his anger theywere annihilated.

27 This is what the Lord says: The whole landshall be a wilderness; yet I will not make a full end.28 For these things let the earth mourn,

and let the sky above grow black,

for I have spoken, and I will not repent;I rushed out, and I will not turn back

from ita.

29 At the noise of horseman and bent bowevery country withdrew;

they crawled into the caves, and they hid ingroves,

and they climbed upon rocks;every city was forsaken;no person lives in them.

30 And you, what will you do if you dress inscarlet

and you deck yourself with goldornaments

and if you anoint your eyes withantimony?

In vain is your adorning.Your lovers rejected you;they will seek your soul,

31 because I heard a sound of your groaning,as of one in labor,

as of one bringing forth her first child;the sound of daughter Sion will be

dissolved,and she will let fall her hands;

“Woe is me, for my soul is failing for thosekilled!”

5 Run about in the streets of Ierousalem,and see, and take note,

and search in its squares,if there be found one

who practices justiceand seeks faithfulness,

and I will be gracious to them,says the Lord.

2 They say, “The Lord lives.”Are they therefore not swearing lies?

3 O Lord, your eyes—are they not onfaithfulness?

You have struck them,but they were not in trouble;

you have consumed them,but they did not want to take correction.

They have made their faces harder thanrock,

and they did not want to turn back.

4 And I said, “Perhaps they are poor;that’s why they were not able,

because they did not know the way of theLord

and divine judgment.”5 I will go to the prominent

and speak to them,because they were acquainted with the way

of the Lordand divine judgment,

and behold, they all alike had broken theyoke;

they had burst the bonds.

aI.e. the earth


886 ieremias 5

6 Therefore a lion from the forest struck them,and a wolf right up to the houses

destroyed them,and a leopard watched against their cities;

all who go out of them shall be hunted—because they multiplied their impieties,

they prevailed in their digressions.

7 For which of these should I be merciful toyou?

Your sons have forsaken meand would swear by those who are no

gods.And I fed them,

and they were committing adulteryand would lodge in houses of prostitutes.

8 They were lusty stallions,each neighing for his fellow’s wife.

9 Surely I shall not fail to visit for thesethings?

says the Lord,or shall my soul not take vengeanceon such a nation?

10 Go up upon her battlements, and raze,but do not make a full end;

leave behind her under-props,because they are the Lord’s,

11 because in breaking faith, the house of Israeland the house of Iouda

broke faith with me.12 They lied to their Lord

and said, “These things are not so.No evil will come upon us,

and we shall not see dagger and famine.13 Our prophets became wind,

and a word of the Lord was not in them.Thus shall it be to them!”

14 Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty says:Because you spoke this utterance,behold, I have given my words in your

mouth as a fireand this people as wood, and it shall

devour them.15 Behold, I am bringing upon you

a nation from far away, O house of Israel,says the Lord,

a nation [the sound of] whose language youwill not understand.

16 All are strong,17 and they shall devour your harvest and your

food,and they shall devour your sons and your

daughters,and they shall devour your sheep and your

bull calves,and they shall devour your vineyardsand your fig groves and your olive groves,

and they shall thresh by swordyour fortified cities in which you trust in

them.

18 And it shall be in those days, says the Lord,youra God, I will not make a full end of you. 19Andit shall be when you say, “Why has the Lord ourGod done all these things to us?” then you shallsay to them, “Because you were a slave to foreigngods in your land, so you shall be a slave to for-eigners in a land that is not yours.”

20 Declare these things to the house of Iakob,and let it be heard in Iouda:

21 Do hear these things, O foolish andheartless people;

eyes they have and do not see,ears they have and do not hear.

22 Will you not fear me?says the Lord,

or will you not show reverence before me

who sets sand as boundary for the sea?A perpetual ordinance, and it will not

transgress it,and it will toss and will not be able,

and its waves will roar, and it will nottransgress it.

23 But this people had a noncompliant anddisobedient heart;

they have turned aside and gone away.24 And they did not say in their heart,

“Do let us fear the Lord our God,who gives us rain,

early rain and late rain,according to the season of the satisfaction

of the ordinance of harvesting,and he kept it for us.”

25 Your acts of lawlessness have turned theseaway,

and your sins have distanced good thingsfrom you,

26 because impious ones were found amongmy people,

and they set traps to ruin men,and they would catch them.

27 As a trap, when set up, is full of birds,so their houses are full of treachery;

therefore they have become great and rich,28 and they transgressed justice,

they did not judge the cause of the orphan,

and the cause of the widow they would notjudge.


says the Lord,or shall my soul not take vengeance on

such a nation?

30 Astonishment and horrible thingshave occurred in the land:

31 the prophets prophesy what is wrong,and the priests seized with their hands,

and my people loved to have it so.And what will you do hereafter?

aGk = sg


ieremias 6 887

6 Prevail, O sons of Beniamin,from the midst of Ierousalem!

And in Thekoue signal with the trumpet,and over Baiththacharma raise a signal,

because evil has popped up from the northand it is becoming a great destruction.

2 And your loftiness, O daughter Sion,shall be removed.

3 Shepherds and their flocks shall come intoher.

And they shall pitch tents at her allaround,

and they shall pasture, each with hishand.

4 “Prepare for war against her; rise up,and let us go up against her at noon!”

“Woe to us, for the day has declined,because the shadows of the evening fail!”

5 “Rise up, and let us go up by nightand destroy her foundations!”—

6 because this is what the Lord says:Cut down her trees;

pour out a force against Ierousalem.Ah false city, there is nothing but oppression

within her.7 As a cistern keeps water fresh,

so she keeps fresh her wickedness;impiety and distress will be heard within

her,before her always.

With toil and whip 8you will be disciplined,O Ierousalem,

lest my soul stand away from you,lest I make you an untrodden land

which will not be inhabited,9 because this is what the Lord says:

Glean, glean like a vine the remnants ofIsrael;

turn back like the grape gatherer to hisbasket.

10 To whom should I speak and give warning,and he will hear?

Behold, their ears are uncircumcised,and they cannot hear.

Behold, the dictum of the Lord was to theman object of scorn;

they will not want it at all.11 And I filled my anger,

and I held back and did not finish them.I will pour it out on infants outside

and on a gathering of young men as well,because husband and wife shall be seized,

an older person with fullness of days.12 And their houses shall be turned over to

others,fields and their wives together,

because I will stretch out my handagainst the inhabitants of this land,

says the Lord,13 because from their small even to their great,

all carried out lawless deeds;from priest even to pseudo-prophet,

all produced lies.

14 And they were doctoring the fracture of mypeople with contempt

and saying, “Peace, peace,”and where is peace?

15 They were put to shame, because they failed;

yet they were not ashamed like peoplebeing put to shame,

and they did not know their disgrace.Therefore they shall fall in their fall,

and they shall perish in a time ofvisitation,

said the Lord.16 This is what the Lord says:

Stand at the roads, and see,and ask for the ancient paths of the

Lord,and see what the good way is, and walk in

it,and you will find purification for your

souls.And they said, “We will not walk in it.”

17 I have appointed sentinels for you:“Hear the sound of the trumpet!”

And they said, “We will not hear.”18 Therefore, the nations heard,

and those that were shepherding theirflocks.

19 Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing evil onthis people,

the fruit of their turning away,because they did not hold on to my words

and they rejected my law.20 Why do you bring me frankincense from

Sabaand cinnamon from a land far away?

Your whole burnt offerings are notacceptable,

and your sacrifices did not gratify me.21 Therefore this is what the Lord says:

Behold, I am giving to this people weakness,and they shall be weak with it,

fathers and sons together;a neighbor and his fellow shall perish.

22 This is what the Lord says:Behold, a people is coming from the north,

and nations will stir from the farthestpart of the earth.

23 They will grasp bow and spear;bold it is and will show no mercy;its sound is like a roaring sea;

on horses and chariots it will draw up inbattle order like a fire,

for battle against you, O daughter Sion!

24 “We have heard news of them;our hands fell helpless;

anguish took hold of us,pains as of one giving birth.

25 Do not go out into a field,and do not walk on the roads,

because a sword of the enemies sojourns onevery side.”


888 ieremias 6–7

26 O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth;sprinkle with ashes;

make for yourself a mourning for a beloved,a most pitiable lamentation:

because suddenly distress will come upon us.

27 I have given you as aa testera among testedpeoples,

and you will know me when I test theirway.

28 All are noncompliant,going about with slanders;

bronze and iron,all of them have been corrupted.

29 Bellows failed from a fire;lead failed;

in vain does a silversmith coin silver;their wickedness did not melt.

30 Call them “rejected silver,”because the Lord has rejected them.

7 2Hear a word of the Lord, all Judea. 3This iswhat the Lord, the God of Israel says: Amend

your ways and your doings, and I will cause you todwell in this place. 4Do not trust in yourselves withdeceptive words, because they will not benefit youat all, when you say: “A shrine of the Lord, a shrineof the Lord it is.”

5 Because if in amending, you amend yourways and your doings, and in acting you act withjustice between a man and between his fellow6and do not oppress guest and orphan and widowand do not shed innocent blood in this place anddo not go after foreign gods to your own hurt, 7Iwill also cause you to dwell in this place, in theland that I gave of old to your fathers and forever.

8 But if you trust in deceptive words, wherebyyou will not benefit, 9and murder and commitadultery and steal and swear wrongly and offer in-cense to the goddess Baal and go after foreign godsthat you do not know, 10so that it be ill for you,and if you came and stood before me in the house,where my name has been called on it, and yousaid, “We have kept away from doing all theseabominations”—11surely my house, there wheremy name has been called on it, has not become aden of robbers before you? And I, behold, I haveseen it, says the Lord, 12because go to my placewhich was in Selo, there where I made my nameencamp formerly, and see what I did to it becauseof the wickedness of my people Israel. 13And now,because you have done all these deeds and I spoketo you and you did not hear me and I called youand you did not answer, 14I will also do to thehouse, where my name is called on it, in whichyou trust in it, and to the place that I gave to youand to your fathers, just what I did to Selo. 15AndI will cast out you from before me, just as I cast outyour kinsfolk, all the offspring of Ephraim.

16 And as for you, do not keep praying aboutthis people, and do not request to petition aboutthem, and do not keep making vows, and do not

approach me concerning them, because I will notlisten. 17Or do you not see what they themselvesare doing in the cities of Iouda and in the streets ofIerousalem? 18Their sons gather wood, and theirfathers burn a fire, and their women knead doughto make cakes for the host of the sky, and theypoured out libations to foreign gods in order toprovoke me to anger. 19Are they not provokingme? says the Lord. Is it not themselves so that theirfaces may be ashamed? 20Therefore this is what theLord says: Behold, my wrath and anger are beingpoured on this place, both on human beings andon animals and on every tree of the field and onthe produce of the ground, and it will burn andnot be quenched.

21 This is what the Lord says: Gather yourwhole burnt offerings with your sacrifices, and eatmeat, 22because in the day that I brought your fa-thers up out of the land of Egypt, I did not speakto them and did not command them concerningwhole burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23But this dic-tum I commanded them, saying, “Obey my voice,and I will become a god to you, and you shall be-come a people to me, and walk in all my ways,which I command you, so that it may be well withyou.” 24And they did not obey me, and they didnot turn their ear, but they walked by the notionsof their evil heart, and they became backward andnot forward. 25From the day that their fatherscame out of the land of Egypt even until this day, Ihave also sent out all my slaves the prophets to youby day, and early in the morning I also sent, 26andthey did not obey me, and they did not turn theirear, and they stiffened their necks worse than theirfathers.

28 And you shall speak this word to them: Thisis the nation that did not obey the voice of theLord and did not accept discipline; faithfulness hasfailed from their mouth.29 Shear your head, and throw awayb,

and take a lamentation on your lips,because the Lord has discarded and

rejectedthe generation that did these things,

30 because the sons of Iouda have done evilcbefore me, says the Lord; they have arrayed theirabominations in the house where my name iscalled on it, to defile it. 31And they built the altard

of Tapheth, which is in the valley of Hennom’sson, to burn their sons and their daughters withfire—which I did not command them, and I didnot intend it in my heart. 32Therefore, behold,days are coming, says the Lord, and they shall nolonger say Altard of Tapheth and Valley of Hen-nom’s Son, but Valley of the Slain, and they willbury in Tapheth, because there is no room. 33Andthe corpses of this people will be food for the birdsof the air and for the animals of the earth, andthere will not be one to frighten them away. 34AndI will abolish a sound of people making mirth anda sound of people rejoicing, a voice of bridegroomand a voice of bride from the cities of Iouda and

aOr one tested bI.e. the hair cOr the wicked deed dGk = bômos


ieremias 8–9 889

from the streets of Ierousalem, because all the landshall become a desolation.

8 At that time, says the Lord, they shall bring thebones of the kings of Iouda and the bones of

its rulers and the bones of the priests and thebones of the prophets and the bones of the inhab-itants of Ierousalem out of their tombs, 2and theyshall air them to the sun and to the moon [and toall the stars] and to all the host of the sky, whichthings they have loved and been slaves to andwhich they have followed after them and whichthey have clung to and which they did obeisanceto them. They shall not be mourned and shall notbe buried, and they shall be an example on the sur-face of the ground, 3because they chose death overlife, even for all the remnants that remain of thatgeneration in every place, there where I have driv-en them—

4 because this is what the Lord says:He that falls, does he not rise up,

and he that turns away, does he notreturn?

5 Why has my people turned awayin a shameless turning away

and were in the grip of their preferenceand did not want to return?

6 Do give ear, and hear.Will they not speak in this manner;

“There is no person that repents of hiswickedness,

saying, ‘What have I done?’ “The runner stopped from his own course,

like a sweating horse in his neighing.7 Even the hasidaa in the sky knew its time;

turtledove and swallow, agourb [sparrows]observe the times of their arrival,

but my people did not knowthe judgments of the Lord.

8 How will you say, “We are wise,and the law of the Lord is with us?”

A false pen has become of no use to scribes.9 Wise were put to shame

and were terrified and caught,because they have discarded the word of the

Lord.What wisdom is in them?

10 Therefore I will give their wives to othersand their fields to heirs.

13 And they will gather their produce,says the Lord;

there are no grapes on the vines,and there are no figs on the fig trees;

even the leaves have fallen off.

14 For what do we sit still?Gather together, and let us go into the

fortified citiesand be cast out,

because God has cast us out

and has given us water with gall to drink,because we have sinned before him.

15 We gathered for peace, and there was nogood,

for a time of healing, and behold,exertion.

16 From Dan we will hear the sound of thespeed of his horses;

at the sound of the neighing of hiscavalry

the whole land quaked.And he will come and devour land and all

that fills it,city and those who live in it.

17 For behold, I am sending out against youdeadly snakes

that cannot be charmed,and they shall bite you.

18 Incurable things with the pain of yourpuzzled heart.

19 Behold, a voice of the daughter of mypeople

from a land far away:“Is the Lord not in Sion?

Or is there no king there?”(“Why have they provoked me to anger with

their carved imagesand with strange vanities?”)

20 “Summer ended; harvest passed,and we were not saved.”

21 Because of a fracture of the daughter of mypeople

I was made dizzyc; dismay has taken holdof me,

pains as one giving birth.

22 Is there no pine resin in Galaad,or is a physician not there?

Why has the healing of the daughter of mypeople

not come about?

9 Who will give my head waterand my eyes a fountain of tears,

and I shall bewail my people day and night,the slain of the daughter of my people?

2 Who would give me in the wildernessa remote lodging place,

and I shall leave my peopleand go away from them?

Because they all commit adultery, a band offaithless they are.

3 And they bent their tongue like a bow;falsehood and not faith grew strong in

the land,because they proceeded from evil to evil,

and me they did not know.

4 Each of you, beware of his fellow,and put no trust in their kin,

because every brother will trip up with theheel

aHeb = stork bHeb = thrush? cOr blind


890 ieremias 9–10

and every friend will go arounddeceitfully.

5 Each will mock at his friend;truth they will never speak;

their tongue has learned to speak lies;they committed injusticeand did not pause so as to return.

6 Usury upon usury, deceit upon deceit!They did not want to know me.

7 Therefore this is what the Lord says:Behold, I will refine them and test them,

because I will act in the face of thewickedness of the daughter of mypeople.

8 Their tongue is a wounding arrow;the words of their mouth are deceitful.

He speaks peaceably to his fellowbut inwardly has enmity.


says the Lord,or shall my soul not take vengeance on

such a people?

10 Take up wailing for the mountains,and a lamentation regarding the paths of

the wilderness,because they failed to the point that there

are no people;they did not hear a sound of existence;

from the birds of the air even to animalsthey departed; they went away.

11 And I will render Ierousalem a settlement ofmigrants

and a lair of dragons,and I will make the cities of Iouda an

annihilation,to the point that it is uninhabited.

12 Who is the intelligent person? Let him alsounderstand this, and him to whom a word of themouth of the Lord has come, let him declare it toyou. For what reason did the land perish, was kin-dled like a wilderness, to the point that nothingpasses through it? 13And the Lord said to me: Be-cause they forsook my law that I gave before them,they also have not obeyed my voice 14but havegone after what pleases their own evil heart andafter the idols, which their fathers taught them.15Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Isra-el, says: Behold, I will feed them anguish and willgive them water with gall to drink. 16And I willscatter them among the nations [to] whom theyand their fathers did not know, and I will send thedagger upon them until I have consumed themwith it, 17says the Lord.

Call the mourning women, and let themcome,

and send for the skilled women,and let them speak loudly,

18 and let them raise a lament over us,and let our eyes bring down tears,and let our eyelids flow with water,

19 because a sound of pity was heard in Sion:“How we have suffered hardship!We were utterly shamed,

because we have abandoned the landand we have cast down our quarters.”

20 Do hear, O women, a divine word,and let your ears accept words of his

mouth,and teach to your daughters a dirge,

and a woman to her companion a lament21 “because death has come up through our

windows,has entered into our land,

to destroy infants outsideand young men from the squares.

22 And human corpses shall become anexample

upon the surface of the plain of the land,and like grass behind a mower,

and there shall be no one to gather.”

23 This is what the Lord says: Let not the wiseboast in his wisdom, and let not the mighty boastin his might, and let not the wealthy boast in hiswealth, 24but let him who boasts boast in this: thathe understands and knows that I am the Lordwhen I do mercy and justice and righteousness inthe earth, because in these things is my will, saysthe Lord.

25 Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, andI will visit on all circumcised their foreskina: 26onEgypt and on Judea and on Edom and on the sonsof Ammon and on the sons of Moab and on everyone who shaves all around what is on his face,those who live in the wilderness, because all thenations are uncircumcised in the flesh and all thehouse of Israel are uncircumcised in their heart.

10 Hear a word of the Lord that he spoke toyou, O house of Israel. 2This is what the

Lord says:Do not learn according to the ways of the

nations,and do not be afraid of the signs of the

sky,because they are afraid of them bto their

facesb,3 because the precepts of the nations are vain:

there is a tree from the forest, cut down,a work of a craftsman, and a molten

image.4 They have been beautified with silver and

gold;they fastened them with hammers and

nails,and they shall not be moved.

5a Wrought silver it is—they will not walk.9 Beaten silver will come from Tharsis,

aOr uncircumcision bI.e. when they see them


ieremias 10–11 891

gold of Mophasand a hand of goldsmiths—works of

craftsmen all;they will clothe them in blue and purple.

5b Raised they will be carried,because they will not walk.

Do not be afraid of them,because they shall not do evil,and there is no good in them.

11 Thus shall you say to them: Let gods whodid not make the sky and the earth perish from theearth and from under this sky.

12 It is the Lord who made the earth by hisstrength,

who set upright the world by his wisdom,and by his prudence he stretched out the

sky,13 and a quantity of water was in the sky,

and he brought up clouds from the endof the earth.

Lightnings he made into rain,and he brought out light from his

storehouses.14 Every person was stupid, aapart froma

knowledge;every goldsmith was put to shame at his

carved images,because theyb cast lies;

there is no breath in them.15 Worthless they are, works of mockery;

at the time of their visitation they shallperish.

16 Such a portion is not Iakob’s;because he who formed all things,

he is his inheritance;the Lord is his name.

17 He gathered your substance from outside,when it was residing in choice places—

18 because this is what the Lord says:Behold, I am tripping up the inhabitants of

this land with afflictionso that your plague may be discovered.

19 Woe because of your fracture!Your plague is painful.

So I said, “Truly this is my wound,and it seized me.”

20 My tent endured hardship,and all my skins were torn;

my sons and my sheep are no more;there is no longer a place for my tent,

a place for my curtains.21 Because the shepherds played the fool

and did not seek out the Lord,therefore the whole pasture did not

comprehend,and they were scattered.

22 A sound of a report! Behold, it is coming—

and a great commotion from a land ofthe north,

to make the cities of Iouda an annihilationand a nesting place for sparrows.

23 I know, O Lord, that a human being’s way isnot his own,

nor shall a man journey and direct hisjourney.

24 Correct us, O Lord, but in just measureand not in anger so that you may not

make us few.

25 Pour out your anger on nations that do notknow you

and on generations that did not call onyour name,

because they have devoured Iakoband they have consumed himand his pasture they have made desolate.

11 The word that came from the Lord toIeremias, saying: 2Hear the words of this

covenant. And you shall speak to the men of Ioudaand to the inhabitants of Ierousalem. 3And youshall say to them, This is what the Lord, the God ofIsrael, says: Cursed be the person who will notheed the words of this covenant, 4which I com-manded your fathers in the day that I broughtthem up out of the land of Egypt, out of the ironsmelter, saying, Hear my voice, and do all that Icommand you. And you shall become a people tome, and I will become a god to you, 5that I may es-tablish my oath that I swore to your fathers, to givethem a land flowing with milk and honey, as thisday. And I answered and said, “May it be, Lord.”

6 And the Lord said to me: Read these words inthe cities of Iouda and outside of Ierousalem, say-ing: Hear the words of this covenant and do them.8And they did not.

9 And the Lord said to me: A bond of unionwas found among the men of Iouda and amongthe inhabitants of Ierousalem. 10They have turnedback to the injustices of their fathers of formertimes, who did not want to listen to my words, andbehold, they are walking after foreign gods to beslaves to them, and the house of Israel and thehouse of Iouda have scattered the covenant that Imade with their fathers. 11Therefore, this is whatthe Lord says, Behold, I am bringing evil upon thispeople from which they will not be able to escapefrom it, and they will cry out to me, and I will notlisten to them. 12And the cities of Iouda and theinhabitants of Ierousalem will go and will cry outto the gods to whom they are burning incense tothem. Surely, they will save them in the time oftheir troubles?—13because your gods were accord-ing to the number of your cities, O Iouda, and ac-cording to the number of exits of Ierousalem youhave set up altarsc to burn incense to the goddessBaal.

14 And as for you, do not keep praying for this

aI.e. without bgoldsmiths cGk = bômos


892 ieremias 11–12

people, and do not keep making a request with pe-tition and prayer on their behalf, because I will notlisten at the time they call to me in the time oftheir trouble. 15Why has the beloveda done anabomination in my house? Surely vows and holyflesh will not remove from you your wickedness,or will you escape by means of these things? 16TheLord called your name a beautiful olive tree, wellshaded in appearance; at the sound of its pruningb

the affliction was great on you; its branches wererendered useless. 17And the Lord, who plantedyou, pronounced evil against you, in return for theevil of the house of Israel and the house of Iouda,because they have done this to themselves to pro-voke me to anger by offering incense to the god-dess Baal.

18 O Lord, make it known to me, and I willknow;

then I saw their doings.19 But I, like an innocent lamb

led to be slaughtered, did not know.They devised an evil scheme against me,

saying,“Come, and let us throw wood into his

bread,and let us wipe him out from the land of

the living,and his name will no longer be

remembered!”20 O Lord, when you judge righteously,

when you test kidneysc and heart,may I see your avenging on them,

because to you I have revealed my plea ofright.

21 Therefore this is what the Lord says in refer-ence to the men of Anathoth, who seek my soul,who say, “You shall not prophesy in the name ofthe Lord; otherwise you will die by our hands”—22Behold, I will visit upon them; their young menshall die by dagger, and their sons and their daugh-ters shall come to their end by famine, 23and thereshall be no remnant of them, because I will bringevil upon the inhabitants of Anathoth, in the yearof their visiting.

12 You are in the right, O Lord,because I will make my defense to you,but dlet med speak of judgments to you.

Why is it that the way of the impiousprospers?

Why did all who commit acts offaithlessness thrive?

2 You planted them, and they took root;they bred children and produced fruit;

you are near to their mouthsand far from their kidneysc.

3 And you, O Lord, you know me;you have tested my heart before you.

Purify them for a day of their slaughter!4 How long will the land mourn,

and all the grass of the field wither

from the wickedness of those who live init?

Animals and birds were annihilated,because they said, “God will not see our

ways.”

5 Your feet are running, and they undo you;how will you prepare for horses?

And you trusted in a land of peace;how will you fare in the roaring of the

Jordan?—6 because even your kinsfolk and the

household of your father,even they have dealt faithlessly with you;they too shouted; they were gathered

behind you;do not believe them,

because they will speak good things toyou.

7 I have forsaken my house;I have let go of my heritage;

I have given my beloved soulinto the hands of her enemies.

8 My heritage has become to melike a lion in a forest;

she has given forth her voice against me—therefore I hated her.

9 Surely my heritage is not a hyena’s cave tome

or a cave all around her?Go, assemble all the animals of the field,

and let them come to eat her.10 Many shepherds have destroyed my

vineyard;they have defiled my portion;

they rendered my desired portionan untrodden wilderness.

11 It was made into an annihilation ofdestruction;

on my account the whole land wasannihilated with annihilation,

because there is not a man who lays it toheart.

12 Upon every trail in the wilderness spoilershave come,

because a dagger of the Lord will devourfrom one end of the land to the other

end of the land;there is no peace for any flesh.

13 Sow wheat, and reap thorns.Their farms will not profit them.

Be ashamed of your boasting,of reproaching before the Lord—

14 because this is what the Lord says concern-ing all the evil neighbors who touch my heritagethat I have allotted to my people Israel: Behold, Iam tearing them from their land, and Iouda I willcast out from among them. 15And it shall be afterI have cast them out, I will turn and have mercy onthem, and I will settle them, each in his heritageand each in his land. 16And it shall be, if when

aI.e. Ierousalem bOr circumcision cI.e. emotions dOr I will



learning they learn the way of my people, to swearby my name, “The Lord lives,” as they taught mypeople to swear by the goddess Baal, and they shallbe built up in the midst of my people. 17But if theydo not turn, I will even remove that nation withremoval and destruction.

13 This is what the Lord says, “Go, and ac-quire for yourself a linen loincloth, and

put it on your loins, and it shall not pass throughwater.” 2And I acquired the loincloth according tothe word of the Lord and put it on my loins. 3Anda word of the Lord came to me, saying, 4“Take theloincloth that is on your loins, and rise up, and goto the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of therock.” 5And I hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lordcommanded me. 6And it happened after manydays that the Lord said to me, “Rise up, go to theEuphrates, and take from there the loincloth that Icommanded you to hide there.” 7And I went to theEuphrates river and dug, and I took the loinclothfrom the place, there where I had hidden it. Andbehold, it had been utterly destroyed—which willbe good for nothing.

8 And a word of the Lord came to me saying:This is what the Lord says: 9Just so I will destroythe pride of Iouda and the pride of Ierousalem,10this great pride, those who refuse to obey mywords and have gone after foreign gods to be slavesto them and to do obeisance to them, and theyshall be like this loincloth, which shall be good fornothing, 11because as the loincloth clings to a per-son’s loins, so I made the whole house of Israeland the whole house of Iouda cling to myself inorder that they might be for me a people of name,both as a boast and as a glory. And they did not lis-ten to me.

12 And you shall say to this people: Everywineskin shall be filled with wine. And it shall beif they say to you, “Surely, in knowing shall we notknow that every wine-skin will be filled withwine?” 13And you shall say to them: This is whatthe Lord says: Behold, I am filling the inhabitantsof this land—both their kings, the sons of Dauidwho sit on their throne and the priests and theprophets and Iouda and all the inhabitants of Ie-rousalem—with drunkenness. 14And I will scatterthem, a man and his brother, and their fathers andtheir sons in the same manner; I will not yearnafter, says the Lord, and I will not spare or havecompassion at their destruction.

15 Hear, and give ear, and do not be lifted up,

because the Lord has spoken.16 Give glory to the Lord your God

before he brings darkness

and before your feet stumbleon dark mountains,

and you will wait for light,and a shadow of death is there,

and they shall be placed in darkness.17 If you do not hear,

your soul will weep in secret due to pride,

and your eyes will bring down tears,because the Lord’s flock has been

smashed.

18 Say to the king and to those in power:“Be humbled, and sit down,

because your crown of gloryhas been removed from your head.”

19 The cities toward the south were shut up,and there was no one to open;

Ioudaa was exiled;he completed a complete exile.

20 Lift up your eyes, O Ierousalem,and see those who come from the

north.Where is the flock that was given you,

sheep of your glory?21 What will you say when they visit you?

And it was you who taught them lessonsfor rule over you.

Will not pangs take hold of you,like a woman giving birth?

22 And if you say in your heart,“Why have these things come against

me?”it is for the greatness of your injustice

that your hind parts were uncovered,that your heels were made a spectacle of.

23 Will an Ethiopian change his skin,and a leopard her spots?

And will you be able to do good,though you have learned evil?

24 And I scattered them like firewooddriven by the wind into the wilderness.

25 This is your lotand portion for your disobeying of me,

says the Lord,because you have forgotten me

and hoped in lies.26 It is I that will reveal your hindquarters to

your face,and your dishonor will be seen,

27 both your adultery and your neighingand the estranging of your prostitution;on the hills and in the fields I have seen

your abominations.Woe to you, O Ierousalem!

Because you were not cleansed behindb

me,how long will it yet be?

14 And a word of the Lord came to Ieremiasconcerning the drought:

2 Judea mourned,and her gates were emptied,

and they were darkened in the land,and the cry of Ierousalem went up.

aIoudas = Zi bOr after



3 And her nobles sent their young men forwater;

they came to the cisterns and found nowater,

and they returned their vessels empty.4 And the labors of the land failed,

because there was no rain;farmers were put to shame;

they covered their head.5 Even does in the field gave birth

and forsook atheir younga,because there was no herbage.

6 Wild asses stood by wooded valleys;they snuffed up wind;

their eyes failed,because there was no grass.

7 If our sins withstood us, O Lord,act for us for your sake,

because our sins are many before you,because we have sinned.

8 You are Israel’s endurance, O Lord,and you save in time of trouble;

why have you become like a resident alienin the land

and like an indigenous person turningaside for lodging?

9 Surely you shall not be like a person asleep

or like a man not able to save?And you are among us, O Lord,

and your name has been called upon us;do not forget us!

10 Thus says the Lord with reference to thispeople:

They have loved to move their feet,and they have not spared,

and God found no pleasure in them;now he will remember their injustice.

11 And the Lord said to me: Do not pray con-cerning this people for good, 12because if they fast,I will not hear their petition, and if they offerwhole burnt offerings and sacrifices, I will not havepleasure in them, because by dagger and by famineand by death I will make an end of them.

13 And I said: “You That Are, Lord! Behold,their prophets are prophesying and saying, ‘Youshall not see a dagger, nor shall famine be amongyou, because I bestow truth and peace on the landand in this place.’ “ 14And the Lord said to me: Theprophets are prophesying lies in my name; I didnot send them, and I did not command them anddid not speak to them, because they are prophe-sying to you lying visions and divinations andomens and preferences of their own heart.15Therefore this is what the Lord says concerningthe prophets who prophesy lies in my name, andI did not send them, who say, “Dagger and famineshall not come on this land”: By a sickly deaththey shall die, and by famine the prophets shall

come to an end. 16And the people, to them towhom they prophesy, they also shall be thrownout in the streets of Ierousalem, before the daggerand the famine, and there shall be no one to burythem—band their wives and their sons and theirdaughtersb. And I will pour out their evil uponthem.

17 And you shall say to them this word:Bring down upon your eyes tears day and

night,and let them not cease,

because the daughter of my people wasshattered with a fracture

and with a very grievous blow.18 If I go out into the plain,

and behold, casualties of a dagger!And if I enter into the city,

and behold, hardship of famine,because priest and prophet went to a land

of which they had no knowledge!

19 Surely when rejecting, you did not rejectIouda?

And has your soul departed from Sion?Why did you strike us,

and there is no healing for us?We waited for peace, and there was no

good,for a time of healing, and behold,

disturbance.20 We were aware of our sins, O Lord,

injustices of our fathers,because we have sinned before you.

21 Stop for your name’s sake;do not destroy the throne of your glory;remember, do not scatter your covenant

with us.22 Surely, there is no one among idols of the

nations that brings rain?And whether the sky will give its

abundance . . .?Is it not you yourself?

And we will wait on you,because it is you who did all these things.

15 And the Lord said to me: If Moyses andSamouel stood before me, my soul would

not be toward them. Send this people away, and letthem go! 2And it shall be, if they say to you,“Where shall we go?” you shall also say to them:This is what the Lord says:

Those destined for death, to death,and those destined for a dagger, to a

dagger;and those destined for famine, to famine,

and those destined for captivity, tocaptivity.

3And I will avenge on them four kinds, says theLord: the dagger for slaughter and the dogs fortearing and the wild animals of the earth and thebirds of the air for eating and for corruption. 4And

aLacking in Gk bI.e. these shall fare likewise



I will hand them over for anguish to all the king-doms of the earth on account of King Manasse sonof Hezekias of Iouda concerning all he did in Ie-rousalem.

5 Who will be sparing over you,O Ierousalem,

and who will be in dread over you,or who will double back for peace for

you?6 It is you that have turned away from me,

says the Lord;you will go backward,

and I will stretch out my hand and destroyyou,

and I will let them off no more.7 And I will disperse them in a dispersion

in the gates of my people.I was made childless;

I destroyed my people because of theirevils.

8 Their widows became more numerousthan the sand of the sea;

I have brought against the mother of ayouth

wretchedness at noonday;I threw trembling and haste upon her

suddenly.9 She who bore seven was depleted;

her soul became miserable;the sun set for her while it was yet midday;

she has been shamed and disgraced.The rest of them I will give to a dagger

before their enemies.

10 Woe is me, O mother! As whom did youbear me? A man being condemned and at variancewith the whole land! I neither owed nor did anyone owe me; my strength failed amongst those thatcurse me. 11May it be so, O Sovereign, while theysucceed; otherwise I stood before you in a time oftheir troubles and in a time of their distress forgood against the enemy. 12Will iron be known?And your strength is a bronze wrap.

13 And your treasures I will give as plunder, asa payment for all your sins, and in all your borders.14And I will make you a slave to your enemies allaround in the land that you did not know, becausefrom my anger a fire has blazed forth; it shall burnagainst you.15 O Lord, remember me, and visit me,

and hold me guiltless before mypersecutors;

do not incline to forbearance.Know how on your account I received

insult16 by those who reject your words.

Make an end of them, and your word willbe to me gladness

and the joy of my heart,because your name is called upon me,

O Lord Almighty.

17 I did not sit in the council of them whenthey were making sport,

but I was cautious before your hand;I sat alone, because I was filled with

bitterness.18 Why do those who pain me prevail over

me?My wound is severe;how shall I be healed?

As ita came, it became to melike fake water not having credence.

19 Therefore this is what the Lord says:If you return, I will also restore you,

and you shall stand before me.And if you bring out what is precious from

what is worthless,you shall be as my mouth.

And it is they who will turn to you,and not you who will turn to them.

20 And I will give you to this peopleas a fortified bronze wall,

and they will fight against you,and they shall not prevail against you,

for I am with you to save you21 and to deliver you out of the hand of the

wickedand from the hand of the pestilent.

16 And you, do not take a wife, says the LordGod of Israel, 2and no son or daughter

shall be born to you in this place, 3because this iswhat the Lord says concerning the sons and con-cerning the daughters who are born in this placeand concerning their mothers who bore them andtheir fathers who begot them in this land: 4Theyshall die by a sickly death. They shall not belamented, and they shall not be buried; they shallbecome an example on the surface of the ground,both for the wild animals of the earth and for thebirds of the air. By dagger they shall fall, and byfamine they shall be brought to an end.

5 This is what the Lord says: Do not enter intotheir revel, and do not go to lament, and do notbemoan them, because I have removed my peacefrom this people. 6They shall not lament for them,nor shall they make incisions, and they shall notbe shaved. 7And bread shall not be broken in theirmourning, for comfort over the dead; they shallnot make him drink a cup for comfort over his fa-ther and mother. 8You shall not enter into a houseof feasting, to sit with them to eat and drink, 9forthis is what the Lord says, the God of Israel: Be-hold, I am banishing from this place, before youreyes and in your days, a voice of joy and a voice ofgladness, a voice of bridegroom and a voice ofbride.

10 And it shall be when you tell this people allthese dicta, and they say to you, “Why has the Lordspoken all these evil things against us? What is ourinjustice? And what is our sin that we have com-mitted before the Lord our God?” 11And you shall

aI.e. wound



say to them: It is because your fathers have forsak-en me, says the Lord, and were going after foreigngods and have been subject to them and did obei-sance to them and have forsaken me and have notkept my law, 12and you have behaved worse thanyour fathers, and behold, every one of you is fol-lowing after the things that please your evil heartso as not to obey me. 13And I will hurl you fromthis land into a land that you and your fathers havenot known, and there you shall be slaves to othergods who will show you no mercy.

14 Therefore, behold, days are coming, says theLord, and they shall no longer say, “The Lord liveswho brought the sons of Israel up out of the landof Egypt,” 15but “The Lord lives who brought thehouse of Israel up out of the land of the north andout of all the countries, there where they had beendriven.” For I will restore them to their own landthat I gave to their fathers.

16 Behold, I am sending many fishermen, saysthe Lord, and they shall catch them, and afterwardI will send many hunters, and they shall hunt themon every mountain and on every hill and out of theclefts of the rocks, 17because my eyes were on alltheir ways and their acts of injustice were not con-cealed from my sight. 18And I will doubly repaytheir injustices and their sins with which they havepolluted my land with the carcasses of their abom-inations and with their lawless acts, by which theyerred against my inheritance.

19 O Lord, my strength and my helpand my refuge in a day of troubles,

to you shall nations comefrom the end of the earth and say:

How have our fathers acquired false idols,and there is no profit in them!

20 Will a person make for himself gods?But these are no gods!

21 “Therefore, behold, I will make clear tothem at this time my hand and make known tothem my power, and they shall know that myname is the Lord.”

17 5Cursed is the person who has his hope ina human

and will steady the flesh of his arm onhim,

and his heart will stand away from theLord.

6 And he shall be like a wild tamarisk in thewilderness;

he shall not see when good things come.

And he shall encamp by the seaside, in awilderness,

in a salt land that is not inhabited.

7 And blessed is the person who trusts in theLord,

and the Lord shall be his hope.

8 And he shall be like a tree thriving besidewaters,

and it shall send out its roots to moisture.And it shall not fear when heat comes,

and the trunks on it shall be grove-like;in a year of drought it shall not fear,

and it shall not cease to produce fruit.

9 The heart is deep above all else,and soa is man,and who shall understand him?

10 I, the Lord, am one who tests heartsand examines kidneysb,

to give to each according to his waysand according to the fruit of his doings.

11 A partridge gathered what she did not hatch.When one produces his wealth not with

discretion—at the midpoint of his days they will leave

him,and at his end he will be a fool.

12 O exalted throne of glory, our sanctityc!13 O endurance of Israel! O Lord!

Let all who forsake you be put to shame;let those who have turned away be recorded

on the earth,because they have forsaken the fountain

of life, the Lord.

14 Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed;save me, and I shall be saved,because you are my boast.

15 Behold, it is they that say to me,“Where is the word of the Lord?Let it come!”

16 But I have not tired of following after you,and man’s day I have not desired;

you understand;what came from my lips is before you.

17 Do not become an alienation to mewhen you spare me in an evil day.

18 Let my persecutors be shamed,and may I not be shamed;

may they be terrified,and may I not be terrified;

bring on them an evil day;smash them with a double fracture!

19 This is what the Lord says: Go, and stand inthe gates of the sons of your people, by them bywhich kings of Iouda enter and by them by whichthey go out and in all the gates of Ierousalem,20and you will say to them: Hear a word of theLord, you kings of Iouda, and all Judea and all Ie-rousalem, who enter by these gates. 21This is whatthe Lord says: Watch your souls, and do not bearburdens on the day of the sabbaths, and do not goin by the gates of Ierousalem. 22And do not carryburdens out of your houses on the day of the sab-baths, and you shall not do any work; keep the day

aLacking in Gk bI.e. emotions cOr holy precinct



of the sabbaths holy, as I commanded your fathers.(23)And they did not hear and did not incline theirear, 23and they stiffened their neck more than theirfathers so as not to hear me and not to receive in-struction.

24 And it shall be if you hear me by hearing,says the Lord, so as not to bring in burdensthrough the gates of this city on the day of the sab-baths and to keep the day of the sabbaths holy soas not to do any work, 25then there shall enterthrough the gates of this city kings and rulers sit-ting on the throne of Dauid, and mounted onchariots and horses, they and their rulers, men ofIouda and the inhabitants of Ierousalem, and thiscity shall be settled forever. 26And they shall comefrom the cities of Iouda and all around Ierousalemand from the land of Beniamin and from the plainand from the mountain and from the southernland, bringing whole burnt offerings and sacrificialvictims and manaaa and frankincense, bringingpraise into the house of the Lord. 27And it shall be,if you do not listen to me, to keep the day of thesabbaths holy, so as not to carry in burdens andnot to enter by the gates of Ierousalem on the dayof the sabbaths, I will also kindle a fire in its gates,and it shall devour the quarters of Ierousalem andshall not be quenched.

18 The word that came from the Lord toIeremias, saying: 2“Get up, and go down to

the potter’s house, and there you will hear mywords.” 3And I went down to the potter’s house,and behold, he was doing a job on the stones.4And the vessel he was making failed in his hands,and again he made it into another vessel, asseemed good to him to do.

5 And a word of the Lord came to me, saying:6Shall I not have the power to do with you,O house of Israel, just as this potter did? Behold,you are in my hands like the clay of the potter. 7Atlast blet meb speak with reference to a nation orwith reference to a kingdom, to remove them andto destroy, 8and let that nation turn from all theirevil, and I will change my mind about the evilsthat I devised to do to them. 9And at last blet meb

speak in reference to a nation and in reference to akingdom to rebuild and to plant it, 10and let themdo evil before me so as not to hear my voice, and Iwill change my mind about the good things that Ihad spoken to do to them. 11And now, say to themen of Iouda and to the inhabitants of Ierou-salem: Behold, I am shaping evil against you anddevising a plan against you. Let each now turnfrom his evil way and make your doings morenoble.

12 And they said, “We will play the man, be-cause we will go after our own aversions, and eachof us will do what pleases his evil heart!”

13 Therefore this is what the Lord says:Do ask among nations:

Who has heard such horrible things

which Virgin Israel did exceedingly?14 Surely, breastsc will not fail from a rock,

or snow from the Lebanon?Surely water violently carried by wind

will not change course?15 Because my people forgot me,

they burned incense in vain,and they will become weak in their ways,

to tread for milesd on ancient paths,since they have no road for travel,

16 to render their land an annihilationand a thing to be hissed at forever.

All who pass through it will be astonished

and shake their head.17 I will disperse them before their enemies

like a scorching wind.I will show them a day of their ruin.

18 And they said, “Come, let us devise ascheme against Ieremias—because law shall notperish from a priest, and counsel from an intelli-gent person, and a word from a prophet. Come,and let us strike him with the tongue, and we willhear all his words.”

19 Listen to me, O Lord,and listen to the sound of my

vindication!20 Is evil a recompense for good

that together they spoke utterancesagainst my soul

and hid their punishment for me?Remember me when I stood before you

to speak good on their behalf,to turn away your anger from them.

21 Therefore give their sons over to famine,and gather them to a dagger’s power;

let their wives become childless and widows,

and let their men become destroyed bydeath

and their youths become felled by daggerin battle.

22 Let there be a cry in their houses!You will bring marauders suddenly upon

them,because they undertook a plan for catching

meand hid snares for me!

23 And you, O Lord, knewall their plotting against me for death.

Do not excuse their injustices,and do not blot out their sins from your

sight.Let their weakness be before you;

in a time of your anger deal with them.

19 Then the Lord said to me: Go, and acquirea fashioned earthenware jug, and you will

bring some of the elders of the people and some ofthe priests, 2and you shall go out to the common

aHeb = grain offering bOr I will cI.e. breast-shaped crags dGk schoinos = a land measure equal to ca. 11 km



burial ground of the sons of their children whichis at the entry of the gate Charsitha and read thereall the words that I tell you. 3And you shall say:Hear a word of the Lord, O kings of Iouda andmen of Iouda and inhabitants of Ierousalem andthose who enter in these gates. This is what theLord, the God of Israel, says: Behold, I am bringingevil upon this place so that the ears of everyonewho hears of it will tingle. 4Because they have for-saken me and have made this place foreign and of-fered incense in it to foreign gods whom they didnot know, they nor their fathers, and the kings ofIouda have filled this place with innocent blood5and built high places of the goddess Baal to burntheir sons with fire, which things I did not com-mand nor intended in my heart. 6Therefore be-hold, days are coming, says the Lord, and thisplace will no longer be called Fall and BurialGround of Hennom’s Son, but Burial Ground ofSlaughter. 7And I will slaughter the plan of Ioudaand the plan of Ierousalem in this place and willmake them fall by dagger before their enemies andby the hands of people who seek their souls. And Iwill give their corpses for food to the birds of theair and to the wild animals of the earth. 8And I willmake this city into an annihilation and into a hiss-ing; everyone who passes by it will look sullen andwill hiss because of all its blow. 9And they shall eatthe flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daugh-ters, and each shall eat the flesh of his fellow in theblockade and in the siege with which their ene-mies besiege them.

10 And you shall crush the jug in the sight ofthe men who go out with you 11and shall say: Thisis what the Lord says: Thus will I crush this peopleand this city, as an earthen vessel is crushed, whichcan never be mended again. 12Thus will I do, saysthe Lord, to this place and to the inhabitants in it,that this city be rendered as the one falling to ruin.13And the houses of Ierousalem and the houses ofthe kings of Iouda shall be like the ruinous placeof unclean things in all the houses on whose roofsthey have burned incense to the host of the skyand poured out libations to foreign gods.

14 And Ieremias came from the Fall, therewhere the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and hestood in the court of the Lord’s house and said toall the people: 15This is what the Lord says: Be-hold, I am bringing upon this city and upon its vil-lages all the evil that I have spoken against it, be-cause they have stiffened their neck so as not tolisten to my commandments.

20 And the priest Paschor son of Emmer—hewas also appointed leader of the house of

the Lord—heard Ieremias prophesying thesewords. 2And he struck him and put him into thesluice, which was by the gate of a house designat-ed “the upper,” which was in the house of theLord. 3And Paschor brought Ieremias out of thesluice, and Ieremias said to him, The Lord hascalled your name not Paschor, but Deportee, 4for

this is what the Lord says: Behold, I am assigningyou to deportation with all your friends, and theyshall fall by their enemies’ dagger, and your eyesshall see it. And I will give you and all Iouda intothe hands of the king of Babylon, and they shalldeport them and shall cut them down with dag-gers. 5And I will give all the strength of this cityand all its toils and all the treasures of the king ofIouda into the hands of his enemies, and theyshall bring them into Babylon. 6And as for youand all who live in your house—you shall go incaptivity, and in Babylon you shall die, and thereyou shall be buried, you and all your friends, tothem to whom you have prophesied lies.

7 O Lord, you have misled me,and I was misled;

you got the upper handand prevailed;

I have become a laughingstock all day long;

I continued to be mocked,8 because I will laugh with my bitter speech;

I will call upon faithlessness andwretchedness,

because the Lord’s word has become for mea reproach and a derision my whole day.

9 And I said, “I will not name the name of theLord

and will no longer speak in his name.”And it became like a burning fire flaming in

my bones,and I became limp everywhere,

and I cannot bear up,10 because I heard the blame of many gathered

around,“Band together, and let us band together

against him,all you men, his friends!

Watch his intent, whether he can be misled,

and we can prevail against himand take our revenge on him.”

11 And the Lord is with me like a strongwarrior;

therefore they persecuted meand were not able to consider.

They were greatly shamed,because they did not consider their

dishonor,which will never be forgotten.

12 O Lord, one who tests what is right,one who understands kidneysb and

hearts,may I see your avenging among them,

because to you I have revealed mydefensive pleas.

13 Sing to the Lord; praise him,because he has delivered the soul of the

needyfrom the hand of evildoers!

aHeb = potsherds bI.e. emotions



14 Cursed be the dayon which I was born on it!

The day on which my mother bore me—let it not be longed for!

15 Cursed be the personwho brought the good news to my father,

saying,“A male child was born to you,”

being glad.16 Let that person be like the cities

that the Lord overthrew in anger and didnot repent;

let him hear a cry in the morningand a shouting at noon,

17 because he did not kill me in the womb,and my mother became my graveand the womb one of perpetual

conception.18 Why is it that I came forth from the womb

to see toil and sorrow,and my days continued in shame?

21 The word that came from the Lord toIeremias, when King Sedekias sent to him

Paschor son of Melchias and the priest Sophoniasson of Maasaios, saying, 2Inquire of the Lordabout us, because the king of Babylon has taken astand against us, if the Lord will do according toall his wonderful deeds and he will withdraw fromus.

3 And Ieremias said to them: Thus you shall sayto Sedekias, king of Iouda: 4This is what the Lordsays: Behold, I am turning back the weapons ofwar with which you are fighting with them, againstthe Chaldeans who have enclosed you outside thewall, into the midst of this city. 5And it is I whowill fight you with outstretched hand and mightyarm, in anger and great wrath. 6And I will strike allthe inhabitants in this city, human beings and an-imals, with great death, and they shall die. 7And af-terwards, says the Lord, I will give Sedekias, king ofIouda, and his servants and the people left in thiscity from death and from famine and from thedagger into the hands of their enemies who areseeking their souls, and they shall cut them intopieces with a dagger’s edge; I will not be sparing to-ward them, and I will not have compassion onthem.

8 And to this people you shall say: This is whatthe Lord says: Behold, I have given before you theway of life and the way of death. 9He who sits stillin this city shall die by dagger and by famine, buthe who goes out to side with the Chaldeans whohave closed you in shall live and his soul shall beas booty, and he shall live, 10for I have set my faceagainst this city for evil and not for good. It shallbe given over into the hands of the king of Bab-ylon, and he shall burn it with fire.

11 As for the house of the king of Iouda—heara word of the Lord, 12O house of Dauid! This iswhat the Lord says:

Execute judgment in the morning,

and guide from the hand of him thatwrongs him

anyone who has been seizedin order that my wrath may not be kindled

like fireand burn, and there will be no one to

quench it.

13 Behold, I am against you, the inhabitant ofthe valley of Sor,

the plain, against those who say,“Who shall terrify us,or who shall enter into our dwelling

place?”14 I will kindle a fire in itsa forest,

and it shall devour all that is round aboutita.

22 This is what the Lord says: Go, and de-scend to the house of the king of Iouda,

and you shall speak there this word, 2and youshall say: Hear a word of the Lord, O King of Ioudawho sits on the throne of Dauid—you and yourhouse and your people and those who enter bythese gates. 3This is what the Lord says: Do justiceand righteousness, and deliver one seized from thehand of one who does him wrong. And do not op-press, and do not act impiously against guest andorphan and widow, and do not shed innocentblood in this place, 4for if in doing you do thisword, by the gates of this house shall also enterkings who sit on the throne of Dauid, and mount-ed on chariots and horses, they and their servantsand their people. 5But if you will not do thesewords, by myself I have sworn, says the Lord, thatthis house shall become a desolation—6becausethis is what the Lord says against the house of theking of Iouda:

You are Galaad to me,realm of Lebanon;

if I do not make you a wilderness,cities not to be inhabited!

7 And I will bring destroyers against you,a man and his ax,

and they shall cut down your choice cedars

and cast them into the fire.8 And nations will pass through this city, and

they will say, each to his fellow, “Why did the Lorddeal in this way with this great city?” 9And theywill say, “Because they abandoned the covenant ofthe Lord, their God, and did obeisance to foreigngods and were slaves to them.”

10 Do not weep for him who is dead,nor bemoan him;

with weeping weep for the one who goesaway,

because he shall return no morenor see his native land—

11 for this is what the Lord says regarding Sel-lem son of Iosias, who was reigning in place of his

aI.e. valley



father Iosias, who went away from this place: Heshall return there no more, 12but in the placewhere I have deported him, there he shall die, andhe shall never see this land again.

13 Ah, he who builds his house not withrighteousness

and his upper rooms not with judgment,he will work at his fellow’s for nothing,

and he will not pay him his wages.14 You built for yourself a spacious house,

ventilated upper rooms fitted withwindows

and paneled with cedarand painted with vermilion.

15 Surely, you will not be king,because you are irritated with Achaz your

father?They will not eat, and they will not drink;

it is better for you to execute judgmentand righteousness.

16 They did not know;they did not judge the cause for the

lowlynor the cause of the needy.

Is not this so, because you do not know me?says the Lord.

17 Behold, are not your eyes and your hearton nothing but your greedand on innocent blood to shed itand on wrongdoingand on committing murder?

18 Therefore this is what the Lord says regard-ing King Ioakim son of Iosias of Iouda:

Woe to this man!They shall not lament for him, “Ah,

brother!”nor shall they weep for him, “Alas,

lord!”19 With the burial of a donkey he shall be

buried—swept up, he will be thrown out beyond

the gate of Ierousalem.

20 Go up to Lebanon, and cry out,and give forth your voice in Basan,

and shout to the other side of the sea,because all your lovers were crushed.

21 I spoke to you in your downfall,and you said, “I will not listen.”

This has been your way from your youth;you have not obeyed my voice.

22 A wind shall shepherd all your shepherds,and your lovers shall go out in captivity,

because then you will be ashamed anddisgraced

because of all who would kiss you.23 O inhabitant of Lebanon,

nesting among the cedars,you will groan when pangs come upon

you,pains as of one giving birth!

24 I live, says the Lord, if King Iechonias son ofIoakim of Iouda ain beinga was a signet on myright hand, from there I would tear you off 25andgive you into the hands of people seeking yoursoul, before whose face you are afraid, into thehands of the Chaldeans. 26And I will hurl you andyour mother who bore you into a land, therewhere you were not born, and there you shall die.27But to the land for which they long with theirsouls, they shall not return.28 Iechonias was dishonored

like a vessel which is without its use,which was hurled out,

and he was cast out into a land that hedid not know.

29 O land, land,hear a word of the Lord!

30 Record this man as a banished person,because none of his offspring shall grow up

to sit on the throne of Dauidas ruler again in Iouda.

23 Ah, the shepherds who destroy and scatterthe sheep of their pasture! 2Therefore this

is what the Lord says regarding those who shep-herd my people: It is you who have scattered mysheep and have driven them away, and you havenot visited them. Behold, I punish you for yourevil doings. 3And it is I who will receive those re-maining of my people from every land, therewhere I have driven them, and I will restore themto their pasture, and they shall increase and multi-ply. 4And I will raise up shepherds for them whowill shepherd them, and they shall not fear anylonger or be terrified, says the Lord.

5 Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, and Iwill raise up for Dauid a righteous dawn, and aking shall reign and shall understand and shall ex-ecute judgment and righteousness in the land. 6Inhis days Ioudab will be saved, and Israel will en-camp in confidence. And this is the name by whichhe [the Lord] will call him: “Iosedek (9)among theprophets.”

9 My heart was crushed;within me all my bones shook;

I became like a crushed manand like a person overcome by wine,

due to the Lordand due to the dignity of his glory,

10 because due to these the land mourned,the pastures of the wilderness were dried

up.And their course became evil,

and their strength not so,11 because priest and prophet were defiled,

and in my house I have seen theirwickedness.

12 Therefore let their way be to themlike slipperiness in thick darkness,and they shall be tripped up and fall in

itc;

aPossibly when born bIoudas = Zi cI.e. way



for I will bring evil upon themin the year of their visiting.

13 And in the prophets of SamariaI saw lawless deeds:

they prophesied by the goddess Baaland led my people Israel astray.

14 And in the prophets of IerousalemI have seen shocking things:

people committing adultery and walking inlies

and strengthening the hands of evildoers

so that no one turns, each from hiswicked way;

all have become like Sodoma to me,and its inhabitants just like Gomorra.

15 Therefore this is what the Lord says:“Behold, I will feed them pain

and will give them bitter water to drink,because from the prophets of Ierousalem

defilement went out to the whole land.”

16 Thus says the Lord Almighty: Do not hearthe words of the prophets, because they are ren-dering a vision empty. They speak from their ownheart and not from the mouth of the Lord. 17Theysay to those who reject the word of the Lord,“There shall be peace for you,” and to all who walkby their own will, [to every one who walks by theerror of his own heart,] they said, “No evil shallcome upon you”—

18 because who has stood in support of theLord

and seen his word?Who has given ear and obeyed?

19 Behold, an earthquake from the Lord,and wrath goes forth as a aseismic

upheavala;when itb gathers, it will come against the

impious.20 And the anger of the Lord will no longer

turn backuntil he has executed itc

and until he accomplished itc

due to the undertaking of his heart.In the last of days they will understand

themc.

21 I was not sending the prophets,and they themselves kept running;

I did not speak to them,and they themselves kept prophesying.

22 And if they had stood in support of meand if they had heard my words,

they would also have turned them, mypeople,

from their evil doings.

23 I am a god nearby, says the Lord, and not agod far off. 24If someone shall be hidden in secretplaces, is it not I that shall also see him? Do I not

fill the sky and the earth? says the Lord. 25I haveheard what the prophets are saying who prophesylies in my name, saying, “I have dreamed adream!” 26How long shall there be lies in the heartof the prophets who prophesy, when in fact theyprophesy the will of their own heart, 27those whoplan to forget my name by their dreams which theytell, each to his fellow, just as their fathers forgotmy name by the goddess Baal? 28Let the prophet inwhom there is the dream tell his dream, and lethim in whom my word is to him tell my word intruth. What is the chaff to the grain? 29Are not mywords just like fire and like an ax that cuts a rock?30Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets,says the Lord God, who steal my words each fromhis fellow. 31Behold, I am against the prophetswho receive prophecies of tongue and slumbertheir slumber. 32Behold, I am against the prophetswho were prophesying lying dreams, and they kepttelling them, and they led my people astray bytheir lies and by their errors, and it was not I thatsent them, and I did not command them, and theywill not profit this people with profit.

33 And if this people or a priest or a prophetasks you, “What is the issue of the Lord?” you shallthen say to them, “You are the issue, and I willstrike you, says the Lord.” 34And as for the proph-et and the priest and the people who might say,“Issue of the Lord,” I will also punish that personand his household. 35Thus shall you say, each tohis fellow and each to his brother, “What has theLord answered?” and “What has the Lord spoken?”36And “Issue of the Lord,” do not name it anymore, because “the issue” will be the word belong-ing to the person. 37And what has the Lord, ourGod, spoken? 38Therefore, this is what the LordGod says: Because you have said this phrase, “Issueof the Lord,” and I sent to you, saying, You shallnot say, “Issue of the Lord,” 39therefore, behold, Iam taking you and striking you and the city that Igave to you and your fathers. 40And I will renderupon you everlasting disgrace and everlasting dis-honor which shall not be forgotten.

7 Therefore, behold, days are coming, says theLord, and they shall no longer say, “The Lord liveswho brought the house of Israel up out of the landof Egypt,” 8but “The Lord lives who gathered allthe offspring of Israel from the land of the northand from all the countries, there where he haddriven them, and restored them to their land.”

24 The Lord showed me two baskets of figsplaced before the shrine of the Lord, after

King Nabouchodonosor of Babylon had taken intoexile from Ierousalem King Iechonias son ofIoakim of Iouda and the rulers and the artisansand the prisoners and the wealthy and hadbrought them to Babylon. 2The one basket hadvery good figs, like first-ripe figs, and the other bas-ket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten be-cause of their badness. 3And the Lord said to me,“What do you see, Ieremias?” And I said, “Figs, the

aPossibly earthquake and hurricane bI.e. wrath cAntecedent unclear.



good ones very good and the bad ones very bad,which will not be eaten because of their badness.”

4 And a word of the Lord came to me, saying:5This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Likethese good figs, so I will regard those exiled fromIouda, whom I have sent away from this place tothe land of the Chaldeans, for good. 6And I will fixmy eyes upon them for good, and I will restorethem to this land. And I will rebuild them andnever tear down, and I will plant them and neverpluck up. 7And I will give them a heart that theymay know me, that I am the Lord, and they shallbecome a people to me, and I will become a god tothem, because they shall return to me with theirwhole heart.

8 And as the bad figs which will not be eatenbecause of their badness—this is what the Lordsays: So will I hand over King Sedekias of Ioudaand his nobles and the remnant of Ierousalem,those left in this land and those who live in Egypt.9And I will give them as a scattering to all the king-doms of the earth and as a disgrace and as an il-lustration and as a thing to be hated and as a cursein every place, there where I drove them. 10And Iwill send to them the famine and the death andthe dagger until they cease from the land that Igave to them.

25 The word that came to Ieremias regardingall the people of Iouda, in the fourth year

of King Ioakim son of Iosias of Iouda, 2which hespoke to all the people of Iouda and to the inhab-itants of Ierousalem, saying: 3In the thirteenth yearof King Iosias son of Amos of Iouda, and until thisday for twenty-three years, and I spoke to you,being early and speaking, 4and I would send toyou my slaves the prophets, sending them at dawn,but you have not listened and have not paid heedto your ears 5when I was saying, “Doa turn, every-one from his evil way and from your evil doings,and dwell upon the land that I have given to youand your fathers from of old and forever; 6do notgo after foreign gods to be slaves to them and to doobeisance to them in order that you may not pro-voke me to anger with the works of your hands soas to do you harm.” 7And you did not hear me.

8 Therefore this is what the Lord says: Becauseyou have not believed my words, 9behold, I amsending for and I will take a paternal family fromthe north, and I will bring them against this landand against its inhabitants and against all nationsaround it, and I will utterly devastate them andrender them into an annihilation and into a hiss-ing and into an everlasting disgrace. 10And I willbanish from them a sound of mirth and a sound ofgladness, a voice of bridegroom and a voice ofbride, a fragrance of perfume and light of a lamp.11And the whole land shall become an annihila-tion, and they shall be slaves amongst the nationsseventy years. 12And when seventy years are com-pleted, I will punish that nation, and I will makethem an everlasting waste. 13And I will bring upon

that land all my words that I have spoken againstit, everything written in this book.

14(49.34) What Ieremias prophesied againstthe nations of Ailam.

15(35) This is what the Lord says: Let the bowof Ailam be crushed, mainstay of their dominance.16(36)And I will bring upon Ailam four winds fromthe four quarters of the sky, and I will scatter themin all these winds, and there shall not be a nationto which it shall not come there—those drivenfrom Ailam. 17(37)And I will terrify them beforetheir enemies who seek their soul, and I will bringevil upon them, the wrath of my anger. And I willsend my dagger after them until I have consumedthem. 18(38)And I will set my throne in Ailam andsend out from there king and nobles.

19(39) And it shall be in the last of days I willreturn the captivity of Ailam, says the Lord.

26 (46.1)In the beginning when King Sedekiasreigned, this word came concerning Ailam.

2 For Egypt, regarding the force of PharaoNechao, king of Egypt, who was by the river Eu-phrates at Charchamis, whom King Nabou-chodonosor of Babylon struck in the fourth year ofKing Ioakim of Iouda:3 Take up weapons and shields,

and advance for battle!4 Saddle the horses;

mount up, you horsemen!And take your stations with your helmets;

throw your lances,and put on your breastplates!

5 Why is it that they are terrifiedand they fall back?—

for their strong shall be beaten down.They have fled in flight

and did not turn back, being encircled allaround!

says the Lord.6 Let not the swift flee away,

and let not the strong one escape;to the north, the regions by the Euphrates

were powerless;they have fallen.

7 Who is this that will rise up like a river,and like rivers surge with water?

8 Waters of Egypt will rise up like a river,and itb said, I will rise up and cover land

and destroy inhabitants in it.9 Mount on the horses;

prepare the chariots!Go forth, O warriors of the Ethiopians

and Libyans armed with weapons,and grasp, O Lydians; draw the bow.

10 And that day belongs to the Lord, our God,

a day of vengeance,to take vengeance on his enemies.

aOm = Zi bI.e. waters or river


ieremias 26–27(50) 903

And a dagger of the Lord shall devour andbe sated

and be drunk with their blood,because therea is a sacrifice for the Lord

from the land of the north by the riverEuphrates.

11 Go up, O Galaad, and take pine resinto the virgin daughter of Egypt!

In vain you have multiplied your medicines;

there is no help for you.12 Nations have heard your voice,

and the earth was filled with your cry,because warrior was weak against warrior;

both have fallen together.

13 What the Lord spoke by the hand ofIeremias that the king of Babylon would come tosmite the land of Egypt:14 Declare in Magdolos, and proclaim in

Memphis;Say, “Set up, and be ready,

because a dagger devoured your yewb.”15 Why has Apis fled?

Your [choice] bull calf did not remain,because the Lord paralyzed him.

16 And your multitude was weak and fell,and each kept saying to his fellow,

“Let us rise up and return to our own people

and to our fatherland,because of the Greek dagger.”

17 Call the name of Pharao Nechao, king ofEgypt,

Saon-esbi-emoedc.

18 I live, says the Lord God,because hed shall come

like Itabyrione among the mountainsand like Carmel by the sea.

19 Make for yourself implements for going intoexile,

resident daughter of Egypt,because Memphis shall become an

annihilation,and it shall be burned, because there are

no inhabitants in it.

20 A beautified heifer is Egypt—a fragment from the north came upon

her.21 And her mercenaries in her

are like grain-fed calves,for they too have turned and fled together;

they did not stand,because a day of ruin has come upon them,

and a time for their punishment.

22 A sound like of a hissing snake,because they will travel in sand,

and they will come against her with axes,

like people felling trees.23 They shall cut down her forest,

says the Lord,because there shall be nothing like itf,

because itf is more numerous thangrasshoppers,

and they are without number.24 The daughter of Egypt was put to shame;

she was handed over into the hands of apeople from the north.

25 Behold, I am avenging Amon, her son,on Pharao and on those who trust in

him.27 But as for you, have no fear, my slave

Iakob,nor be terrified, O Israel;

for behold, I am saving you from far awayand your offspring from the land of their

captivity.And Iakob shall return and have quiet and

sleep,and there shall be no one to cause him

difficulty.28 Have no fear, my servant Iakob,

says the Lord,because I am with you,

because I will make an end among everynation,

among people to whom I have banishedyou there,

but I will not make you to fail!And I will discipline you in just measure,

and when I deem innocent, I will notdeem you innocent.

27 (50.1)A word of the Lord, which he spokeregarding Babylon.

2 Declare among the nations, and makeheard,

and do not conceal; say:Babylon has been taken;

[Bel] the undaunted was put to shame;the gentle [Marodach was undone],

3 because from the north a nation has come upagainst her; he shall make her land an annihila-tion, and there shall be no one to live in it, fromhuman being even to animal.

4 In those days and in that time the sons of Is-rael shall come, they and the sons of Iouda togeth-er; they shall come walking and weeping as theyseek the Lord, their God. 5They shall ask the wayto Sion, for here they will set their face, and theyshall come and flee for refuge to the Lord God, foran everlasting covenant will not be forgotten.

6 My people have become lost sheep; theirshepherds expelled them; they have misled them tothe mountains; from mountain to hill they went;they have forgotten their fold. 7All who would find

aOr it bPossibly holm oak cHeb = braggart who missed his chance dI.e. Nabouchodonosor? eI.e. Mt. TaborfI.e. forest


904 ieremias 27(50)

them would devour them; their enemies said, “Letus not release them, because they have sinnedagainst the Lord. A pasture of righteousness atheyarea for the one who gathered their fathers.”

8 Become a stranger from the midst of Babylonand from the land of the Chaldeans, and go out,and become like dragons before sheep, 9becausebehold, I am stirring up against Babylon gather-ings of nations from the land of the north, andthey shall array themselves against her; from thereshe shall be taken, as an arrow of a skilled warriorwill not return empty. 10Chaldea shall be for plun-der; all who plunder her shall be sated—

11 because you were rejoicing and boastingwhile plundering my heritage;

for you were frisking about like heifers inpasture,

and you were butting horns like bulls;12 your mother was utterly shamed,

a mother for good, lastb of nations, awilderness.

13 Because of the wrath of the Lord she shallnot be inhabited,

and all of her shall become anannihilation,

and everyone who passes through Babylonshall be sullen

and whistle because of her every wound.14 Take up your positions against Babylon

round about,all you that bend a bow;

shoot at her; do not be sparing with yourarrows.

15 And applaud exceedingly over her:“Her hands were paralyzed;

her bulwarks have fallen,and her wall was razed.”

Because vengeance is from God,take vengeance on her;do to her as she has done.

16 Utterly destroy seed from Babylon,and the wielder of the sickle in time of

harvest;because of the Greek dagger,

each of them shall return to his ownpeople,

and each of them shall flee to his ownland.

17 Israel is a wandering sheep; lions drove himaway. The first one, king of Assour, devoured him,and this later one, king of Babylon, his bones.18Therefore, this is what the Lord says: Behold, Iam taking vengeance on the king of Babylon andon his land, as I took vengeance on the king of As-sour. 19And I will restore Israel to his pasture, andhe shall feed on Carmel and on Mount Ephraimand in Galaad, and his soul shall be satisfied. 20Inthose days and at that time they will seek the in-justice of Israel, and there shall be none, and the

sins of Iouda, also they shall not be found, becauseI will be merciful to those that have remained inthe land, says the Lord.

21 Go up bitterly against herand against the inhabitants in her;

take vengeance, O dagger, and annihilate,says the Lord,

and act according to all that I amcommanding you.

22 A noise of battle and great destructionis in the land of the Chaldeans!

23 How was the hammer of the whole earthbroken and shattered!

How has Babylon turned intoan annihilation among nations!

24 They will attack you, and you will be taken,O Babylon,

and you will not know it;you were discovered and seized,

because you withstood the Lord.25 The Lord has opened his store room

and brought out the implements of hiswrath,

because there is a task for the Lord Godin the land of the Chaldeans.

26 For her times have come.Open her storehouses;

search her like a cave, and destroy herutterly;

let there be no remnant of her.27 Dry up all her fruit,

and let them go down to slaughter.Woe to them, because their day has come

and the time of their punishment!

28 A sound of people fleeing and escapingfrom the land of Babylon to declare in Sion thevengeance of the Lord, our God.

29 Summon many against Babylon, every onewho bends a bow. Make a camp against her, allaround; let there be no one to escape. Repay her ac-cording to her deeds; just as she has done, do toher—because she withstood the Lord, holy God ofIsrael. 30Therefore her young men shall fall in hersquares, and all her fighting men shall be throwndown, said the Lord.

31 Behold, I am against you the arrogant one,says the Lord,

because your day has comeand the time of your punishment.

32 And your arrogance shall become weak andfall,

and there shall not be one to raise it up,and I will kindle a fire in herc forest,

and it will devour everything around herc.

33 This is what the Lord says: The sons of Isra-el have been oppressed, and so too the sons of

aLacking in Gk bI.e. mother cI.e. Babylon


ieremias 27(50)–28(51) 905

Iouda; all their captors have oppressed them, be-cause they were unwilling to send them off. 34Andhe that redeems them is strong; the Lord Almightyis his name. He will judge with judgment againsthis adversaries, that he may destroy the earth, andfor those that inhabit Babylon he will incite35 a dagger against the Chaldeans

and against the inhabitants of Babylonand against her noblesand against her sages,

36 a dagger against her warriors—and they shall be paralyzed—

a dagger against their horsesand against their chariots,

37 a dagger against their warriorsand against the mixed populace in her

midst—and they shall become like women—

a dagger against her treasures—and they shall be scattered 38by her

water,and they shall be disgraced,

because it is a land of carved images,and in the islands they were boasting.

39 Therefore phantoms shall live in the islands,and daughters of Sirens shall inhabit her; she shallnever again be inhabited forever. 40As when Godoverturned Sodoma and Gomorra and those adja-cent to them, said the Lord, no person shall livethere, and no son of man shall sojourn there.

41 Behold, a people is coming from the north,

and a great nation and many kingsshall be stirred from the farthest part of

the earth,42 wielding bow and hand knife;

ita is reckless and will show no mercy.The noise of them shall sound like the sea;

they will ride upon horses,equipped, like a fire for battle

against you, O daughter Babylon!

43 The king of Babylon heard news of them,and his hands became paralyzed;

affliction tightly seized him,pains like those of one giving birth.

44 Behold, just like a lion itb will come upfrom the Jordan into Aithan—because I will quick-ly pursue them away from herc, and I will set everyyoung man against her. For who is like me? Andwho will withstand me? And who is this shepherdwho will stand against me? 45Therefore, hear theplan of the Lord, which he has planned againstBabylon, and his purposes that he has formedagainst the inhabiting Chaldeans: If the lambs ofthe sheep be not killed, if their pasture be not an-nihilated from them . . .—46because at the soundof the capture of Babylon the earth shall tremble,and her cry shall be heard among nations.

28 (51.1)This is what the Lord says:Behold, I am stirring up a destructive

scorching windagainst Babylonand against the inhabiting Chaldeans,

2 and I will send insolent men to Babylon,and they shall treat her with insolenceand shall maltreat her land.

Woe to Babylon on every sideon the day of her trouble.

3 Let him that bends his bow bend it,and let him who has his armor put it on.

Do not be sparing toward her young men,and annihilate her entire force.

4 And they shall fall down slain in the land ofthe Chaldeans

and be pierced outside of her,5 for Israel and Ioudad did not become

widowedfrom their God,from the Lord Almighty,

because their land is full of injusticeagainst the holy things of Israel!

6 Flee from the midst of Babylon,and save your souls, each of you!

And do not be cast aside in her injustice,because it is a time of vengeance on her

from the Lord;he is repaying repayment to her.

7 Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand,making all the earth drunken;

nations drank of her wine;therefore they were shaken.

8 And suddenly Babylon fell and wasshattered;

wail for her!Bring pine resin for her ruin,

if perhaps she shall be healed.9 We treated Babylon,

but she was not healed.Let us forsake her, and let each of us go

awayto his own country,

because her judgment has reached skyward;it rose up even to the stars.

10 The Lord has brought forth his judgment;come, and let us declare in Sionthe works of the Lord, our God.

11 Equip the arrows!Fill the quivers!

The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the king of theMedes, because his wrath is against Babylon to de-stroy it utterly, because it is vengeance from theLord, vengeance for his shrine.12 Raise a standard on the walls of Babylon;

set up quivers;awaken the watch;

prepare weapons;because he has taken in hand and the Lord

will do

aI.e. people bPossibly people v. 41 cPossibly Babylon dIoudas = Zi


906 ieremias 28(51)

what he spoke against the inhabitants ofBabylon,

13 though she encamps by abundant watersand by the multitude of her treasures—

your end has truly comeinto your inwards,

14 because the Lord has sworn by his arm:For I will fill you with people like

grasshoppers,and those that come down shall utter a

sound against you.

15 When he was making the earth by hisstrength,

when he was preparing the world by hiswisdom,

by his understanding he stretched out thesky;

16 he made the sound of water a voice in thesky,

and he brought up clouds from the endof the earth.

Lightnings he made into rainand brought out light from his store

rooms.17 Every person became vain, aapart froma

knowledge;every goldsmith was put to shame by his

carved images;because theyb cast lies,

there is no breath in them.18 Worthless they are, works to be ridiculed;

at the time of their visiting they shallperish.

19 Such a portion is not Iakob’s,because he who formed all things,

he is his inheritance;the Lord is his name.

20 It is you who scatter for me implements ofwar,

and in you I will scatter nations,and fromc you I will destroy kings,

21 and in you I will scatter a horse and its rider,22(21b) and in you I will scatter chariots and their

charioteers,and in you I will scatter young man and girl,

and in you I will scatter man and woman,23 and in you I will scatter a shepherd and his

flock,and in you I will scatter a farmer and his

husbandry,and in you I will scatter leaders and

generals.

24 And I will repay to Babylon and all the in-habiting Chaldeans all their wrongs that they havedone against Sion before your very eyes, says theLord.

25 Behold, I am against you, the corruptedmountain

that corrupts the whole earth,and I will stretch out my hand against you

and roll you down from the rocksand render you like a burned-out

mountain.26 And they shall take no stone from you for a

cornerand no stone for a foundation,

because you shall be an annihilationforever,

says the Lord.

27 Raise a standard on the land;trumpet with a trumpet among nations;

consecrate nations against her,summon against her kingdoms of Araret,from me also the Aschanazeans;

set up siege engines against her;mount up against her cavalry like a

multitude of grasshoppers.28 Consecrate nations against her,

the king of the Medes and of the wholeearth,

his leading men and all his generals.29 The land shook and toiled,

for the Lord’s purpose against Babylonstood,

to make the land of Babylon anannihilation

and that she would not be inhabited.30 Babylon’s warrior gave up fighting;

they will sit there under siege;their dominance was broken;

they became like women;her quarters were set on fire;

her bars were crushed.31 A pursuer will pursue to meet a pursuer,

and a reporter to meet a reporter,to report to the king of Babylon

that his city has been taken:32 at the end of his fords they were seized,

and their communities were burnt withfire,

and his fighting men are coming out,33 for this is what the Lord says:

Houses of the king of Babylon will bethreshed

like a threshing floor in season;yet a little while

and her harvest time will come.

34 “King Nabouchodonosor of Babylon hasdevoured me;

he has apportioned me;he has seized me, a slim vessel;

he has swallowed me like a dragon;he has filled his belly with my delicacies.

35 My hardships and my miseries drove meinto Babylon,”

resident Sion shall say.“And my blood bed on the residing

Chaldeans,”

aI.e. without bI.e. goldsmiths cI.e. in consequence of dLacking in Gk


ieremias 28(51)–29(47) 907

Ierousalem shall say.36 Therefore this is what the Lord says:

Behold, I am judging your adversaryand will take vengeance for you.

And I will make desolate her seaand make her fountain dry,

37 and Babylon shall become an annihilationand shall not be inhabited.

38 As well, like lions they were aroused,and like lions’ whelps.

39 When they are hot I will give them drinkand make them drunk in order that they

be stupefiedand sleep a perpetual sleep and never

wake,says the Lord.

40 I will bring them down like lambs toslaughter

and like rams with kids.

41 How she was taken,and the boast of the whole earth taken

prey!How Babylon has become

an annihilation among the nations!42 The sea has come up to Babylon

by the sound of its waves,and she has been covered up.

43 Her cities have becomea waterless land and untrodden;

no one will live in her,nor will a son of man lodge in her.

44 I will take vengeance on Babylonand bring out from her mouth what she

has swallowed.And the nations shall no longer gather to

her.49 And in Babylon slain of all the earth will

fall.

50 Since you are survivors of the land,go, and do not stop!

You afar off, remember the Lord,and let Ierousalem come up into your

heart:51 We were put to shame, because we have

heard our insult;dishonor has covered our face;

aliens have entered into our holy places,into the Lord’s house.

52 Therefore behold, days are coming, says theLord,

and I will take vengeance on her carvedimages,

and in all her land wounded shall fall,53 because, if Babylon should mount up like

the sky,and because, if she should fortify the

height of her strength,from me those who destroy utterly will

come upon her,says the Lord.

54 A sound of a cry in Babylon!And a great crashing in the land of the

Chaldeans,55 because the Lord utterly destroyed Babylon

and ruined her great voice roaring likemany waters;

he gave her voice to destruction,56 because distress has come against Babylon;

her warriors were taken;their bow has been terrified,

for a god is repaying them.57 The Lord repays repayment to her,(57) and he will make drunk with drunkenness

her leaders and her sages and hergenerals,

says the King; Lord Almighty is his name.

58 This is what the Lord says:Babylon’s wall was made broad;

in being leveled it shall be leveled,and her high gates

shall be set on fire.And peoples will not exhaust themselves for

nothing,and nations shall fail in rule.

59 The word that the Lord commandedIeremias the prophet to speak to Saraias son of Ne-rias son of Maasaias, when he was going with KingSedekias of Iouda to Babylon, in the fourth year ofhis reign. And Saraias was ruler of gifts. 60AndIeremias wrote in one book all the evils that wouldcome on Babylon, all these words that have beenwritten regarding Babylon. 61And Ieremias said toSaraias: “When you come to Babylon, also see andread all these words, 62and you will say, ‘O Lord,O Lord, it was you who spoke against this place todestroy it utterly and so that neither human noranimal inhabitants be in it, because it shall be anannihilation forever.’ 63And it shall be when youfinish reading this book, you will then tie a stoneto it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates,64and you will say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, and itshall rise up no more before the Chaldeans whomI am bringing on her.’ “

29 (47.1)Regarding the allophyles.

(2) This is what the Lord says:2 Behold, waters are rising from the north

and shall become a wadi overflowingand shall overflow a land and all that fills it,

a city and those who live in it.And humans shall cry out,

and all the inhabitants of the land shallshout.

3 At the noise of his onslaught, at the hoofs ofhis horses

and at the commotion of his chariots, thenoise of his wheels,

fathers did not turn back for their sons,because of the feebleness of their hands,

4 in the day that is comingto destroy all the allophyles,


908 ieremias 29(47)–30(49)

and I will annihilate Tyre and Sidonand all those that remain for their help,

because the Lord will utterly destroythose remaining in the islands.

5 Baldness has come upon Gaza;Ascalon was cast away,

and the remaining Enakim.6 How long will you cut, you dagger of the

Lord?How long until you will be quiet?

Restore yourself to your scabbard;rest, and be lifted up!

7 How shall it be quiet?And the Lord has ordered ita

against Ascalon and against the seashores,against those remaining,

that ita be aroused.

8(49.7) For Idumea.

This is what the Lord says:There is no longer wisdom in Thaiman;

counsel has perished from the prudent;their wisdom is vanishing;

9(8) their face was misled.Sink deep into sitting,

you that live in Dedan,because he did difficult things.I brought themb upon him at the time

when I visited upon him,10(9) because grape gatherers came,

who shall not leave for you thingsgleaned.

As thieves by night they shall place theirhand.

11(10) Because I have ravaged Esau,I have uncovered their hiding places;they will not be able to hide;

his brother’s and his neighbor’s rewardsperished,

and it is not possible 12(11)for your orphanto be left in order to live,

and widows trust in me—13(12) because this is what the Lord says: They

who were not accustomed to drink the cup drank,and you, though being deemed innocent, shall notbe declared innocent, 14(13)because by myself Ihave sworn, says the Lord, that you shall become,in herc midst, untrodden and an object of reproachand of cursing and all her towns shall be desolateforever.15(14)I have heard a tiding from the Lord,

and he sent messengers to nations:“Gather yourselves together and come

against herd;rise up for battle!”

16(15)I rendered you small among nations,despised among humankind.

17(16)Your sporting laid hands on you;recklessness of your heart broke up holes in

rocks;it seized strength of a high hill.

Because like an eagle he set his nest high,from there I will bring you down.

18(17) Idumea shall become untrodden;everyone who passes by will hiss at her. 19(18)Justas Sodoma was overthrown, and Gomorra and herresident-alien towns, said the Lord Almighty, noperson shall ever set down there, and no son ofman shall dwell there. 20(19)Behold, just like a lionite will come up from the midst of the Jordan to aplace of Aithan—because I will quickly pursuethem away from herc. Appoint over herc the youngmen—because who is like me? And who can with-stand me? And who is this shepherd who willstand against me? 21(20)Therefore, hear the Lord’splan, which he planned against Idumea, and hispurpose, which he purposed against the inhabi-tants of Thaiman: If the least of the sheep be notswept away, if their lodging be not made untrod-den to her!—22(21)because at the sound of theirfall the earth feared, and a cry was heard at the seaof Souph. 23(22)Behold, just like an eagle, he willsee and extend the wings over her strongholds!And the heart of the strong of Idumea in that dayshall be like the heart of a woman in labor.

30 (49.1)For the sons of Ammon.

Thus did the Lord say:Surely, there are no sons in Israel,

or have they none to succeedf?Why did Melchol take Galaad,

and shall their people settle in their towns?

2 Therefore behold, days are coming,quoth the Lord,

I will make heard the tumult of battlesagainst Rabbath;

they shall become untrodden and adestruction,

and her altarsg shall be burned downwith fire,

and Israel shall succeedf his rule.

3 Shout, O Hesebon, because Gai perished!Cry out, O daughters of Rabbath!

Put on sackcloth,and lament,

because Melchol shall go in exile,his priests and his rulers together.

4 Why will you rejoice in the plains,O daughter of disgrace

who trusted in her treasures, who said,“Who will enter against me?”

5 Behold, I am bringing fear upon you,said the Lord,

from all your surrounding area,and you will be scattered,

each headlong, and there shall be no one togather.

6(28) For Kedar, the queen of the court, whomKing Nabouchodonosor of Babylon struck.

aI.e. dagger bLacking in Gk cPerhaps Idumea? dI.e. Idumea eReferent unclear fI.e. by inheritance gGk = bômos


ieremias 30(49)–31(48) 909

Thus did the Lord say:Rise up, and advance against Kedar,

and strike the sons of Kedem!7(29) They shall take their tents and their sheep;

their clothes and all their implementsand their camels they shall take for

themselves.And summon destruction against them all

around!8(30) Flee very much; sink deep into sitting,

you seated in the court,because the king of Babylon

has planned a plan against youand formed a purpose against you.

9(31) Rise up, and advance against a nation atease,

that sits in respite;they have no doors, no bolt pins; [no bars]

they lodge alone.10(32)And their camels shall become plunder,

and the multitude of their cattle,destruction.

And with every wind I will winnow them,when they have been sheared before

them.I will bring their rout from their every side,

said the Lord.11(33) And the court shall become a haunt of

sparrowsand untrodden forever;

no person shall ever sit down there,and no son of an earthborn shall settle

there.

12(23)For Damascus.

Hemath and Arphad were put to shame,because they have heard bad tidings;

they were astonished; they were angered;they will not be able to rest.

13(24)Damascus has become undone; she turnedto flight;

trembling seized her.14(25)How did she not forsake a praiseworthy city,

a village which I loved?15(26)Therefore young men shall fall in your

squares,and all your warrior men shall fall,

quoth the Lord.16(27)And I will burn a fire at Damascus’ wall,

and it shall devour the quarters of theson of Hader.

31 (48.1)For Moab.

Thus did the Lord say:Woe for Nabau, because hea perished!

Kariathaim was taken;Hamasagab was put to shame, and Hatath.

2 Healing of Moab is no more;in Hesebon they planned evil against her:

“We cut her off from being a nation!”She shall stop with a stop;

a dagger shall go after you,3 because a voice of people that cry from

Horonaim,“Desolation and a great fracture!”

4 “Moab was crushed!” announce to Zogora.5 Because Halaoth was filled by weeping,

he will go up weeping by way ofHoronaim;

a cry of fracture you have heard.6 Flee, and save your souls,

and you shall be like a wild ass in awilderness!

7 Seeing that you trusted in your strongholds,you also shall be seized.

And Chamos shall go out in exile,his priests and his rulers together.

8 And destruction shall come upon every city;

it shall not be saved.And the valley shall perish,

and the plain shall be destroyed utterly,as the Lord has said.

9 Give signs to Moab,because she will be kindled with

kindling,and all her cities shall become untrodden;

from where will she get an inhabitant?

10 Accursed is the one who is doing the work ofthe Lord carelessly by keeping back his daggerfrom bloodshed.

11 Moab was at rest from childhoodand trusted in his glory;

he did not pour from vessel to vessel,and he was not going into exile;

therefore his flavor remained in him, andhis aroma did not leave.

12 Therefore behold, days are coming, quoththe Lord, and I shall send to him people that devi-ate, and they will make him deviate, and they shallpulverize his vessels and break up his mixtures.13And Moab shall be ashamed of Chamos, as thehouse of Israel was ashamed of Baithel, when theyhad confidence in them.

14 How will you say, “We are strongand a strong person in warfare”?

15 Moab perished;his city and his choice young men went

down to slaughter.16 Moab’s day is near to come,

and his wickedness, very swiftly.17 Stir for him, all you round about him

and all who know his name;say, “How has a renowned staff broken to

pieces,a rod of magnificence!”

aOr it


910 ieremias 31(48)–32(25)

18 Come down from glory,and sit on moist ground;seated she is being destroyed,because Moab has perished;

he that ruins your stronghold came upagainst you.

19 Stand by the road, and watch,youa that sit in Aroer!

And ask him that flees and escapes,and say, “What has happened?”

20 Moab was put to shame, because he wasbroken to pieces;

wail, and cry!Tell it in Arnon

that Moab has perished.

21 And judgment is coming to the land ofMisor, upon Chelon and upon Rephas and uponMophaath 22and upon Daibon and upon Nabauand upon the house of Deblathaim 23and uponKariathaim and upon the house of Gamol andupon the house of Maon 24and upon Karioth andupon Bosor and upon all the cities of Moab, thosefar and those near. 25Moab’s horn was cut off, andhis effort was crushed.

26 Make him drunk, because he was magnifiedagainst the Lord, and Moab shall clap with hishand, and he too shall become a laughingstock.27And if not, was Israel a jest for you? If he wasfound among your thefts, bis itb because you keptfighting him?

28 The inhabitants of Moab left the citiesand lived among rocks;

they became like doves that nest among rocksat the mouth of a gorge.

29 I heard of Moab’s insolence;he was very insolent in his insolence and

his arrogance.And his heart was lifted up.

30 But I knew his works.It was not enough for him;he did not do thus.

31 Therefore wail for Moab on all sides;shout to the men of Kir Hadas, of

drought.32 As with the weeping for Iazer I will weep for

you,O vine of Sebema!

Your branches crossed over the sea;cities reached Iazer;

upon your summer fruit, upon your grapegatherers

destruction has fallen.33 Joy and gladness were swept away

from the land of Moabitis,and wine was in your vats;

they did not tread in the early morning;“aided”c “aided”c, [they did] not “aided”c

34 From a cry of Hesebon as far as Eleale, theircities gave forth their voice, from Zogor as far as

Horonaim and Agela Salasia, because even thewater of Nebrim shall become something burnt.35And I will destroy Moab, quoth the Lord, sincehe ascends upon an altard and offers incense to hisgods. 36Therefore my heart will erumbleb forMoabe as pipes will rumble; my heart will rumblelike a pipe for the people of Kir Hadas. Therefore,what one gained perished [from a person].

37 They will have every head in every placeshaved, and every beard shall be shaved, and allhands shall beat, and sackcloth on every loin, 38evenon all the housetops of Moab and in her squares, be-cause I have crushed her, quoth the Lord, like a con-tainer for which no one has any use. 39How Hatatshouted! How Moab turned her back! Moab wasashamed and became a laughingstock and an objectof indignation to all those about her—40 because thus did the Lord say:41 Hakkarioth was seized,

and the strongholds were also seized.42 And Moab shall be destroyed from being a

crowd,because he was magnified against the

Lord.43 Trap and fear and pit are upon you,

you seated one of Moab!44 He who flees from before fear

shall fall into the pit,and he who climbs out of the pit

shall be caught in the trap,because I will bring these things upon Moab

in the year of their visiting.

32 (25.15)Thus did the Lord, the God of Israel,say: Take from my hand the cup of this un-

mixed wine, and you shall make all the nations, tothem to whom I send you, drink, 2(16)and they arevomiting and will go out of their minds before thedagger that I am sending among them.

3(17) And I took the cup from the Lord’s handand made the nations, to whom the Lord sent meto them, drink: 4(18)Ierousalem and the cities ofIouda and its kings and its rulers, to make them adesolation and something untrodden and a hiss-ing 5(19)and Pharao king of Egypt and his servantsand his nobles 6(20)and all his people and all themixed peoples and all the kings of the allophyles,Ascalon and Gaza and Akkaron and the remnantof Azotus 7(21)and Idumea and Moabitis and thesons of Ammon 8(22)and the kings of Tyre and thekings of Sidon and the kings who are across the sea9(23)and Dedan and Thaiman and Ros and everyone shaven on his face 10(24)and all the mixedpeoples that lodge in the wilderness 11(25)and allthe kings of Ailam and all the kings of the Persians12(26)and all the kings from the east wind, those farand those near, each with his brother, and all thekingdoms that are on the surface of the earth.

13(27) And you shall say to them, Thus did theLord Almighty say: Drink, and get drunk, andvomit, and you will fall and rise no more from be-fore the dagger that I am sending among you.

aGk = fem sg bLacking in Gk cHeb = shouting dGk = bômos eGk uncertain


ieremias 32(25)–33(26) 911

14(28) And it will be if they refuse to accept thecup from your hand so as to drink, and you shallsay: Thus did the Lord say: In drinking you shalldrink, 15(29)because I am beginning to bring evilon a city that my name is called on it, and you willnot be cleansed with cleansing, because I am sum-moning a dagger against those settled on the earth.

16(30) And you shall prophesy against themthese words, and you will say:

The Lord will give an oracle from on high;from his holy place give forth his voice;

he will give a word as an oracle over hisplace,

and they will answer, “aided”a, like thosethat reap,

and destruction has come on theinhabitants of the earth,

17(31) on a part of the earth,because the Lord has an indictment

against the nations;he is entering into judgment with all flesh,

and the impious will be given over to adagger,

says the Lord.

18(32)Thus did the Lord say:Behold, evil is coming

from nation to nation,and a great tempest is issuing

from the farthest part of the earth!19(33) And there shall be slain by the Lord on

the day of the Lord from one part of the earth evento another part of the earth. They shall not be in-terred; they shall become dung on the surface ofthe ground.20(34)Shout, you shepherds, and cry out,

and beat yourselves, you rams of thesheep,

because your days for slaughter have beenfulfilled,

and you shall fall like the choice rams.21(35) And flight shall perish from the shepherds,

and deliverance from the rams of thesheep.

22(36)A sound of a cry of the shepherdsand a shouting of the rams of the

sheep,because the Lord despoiled their fatted

animals!23(37)And the lodgings of peace will cease

from before the wrath of my anger.24(38)Like a lion he has left his lodging,

because their land became untroddenfrom before the great dagger.

33 (26.1)At the beginning of King Ioakim sonof Iosias, this word came from the Lord:

2Thus did the Lord say: Stand in the court of theLord’s house, and you will give an oracle to all theJudeans that come to do obeisance in the house ofthe Lord all the words, which I instructed you togive them as an oracle; do not hold back a thing.

3Perhaps they will hear and will turn each from hisevil way, and I will cease from the evils that I amplanning to do to them on account of their evil do-ings. 4And you shall say: Thus did the Lord say: Ifyou do not hear me, to walk in my precepts that Ihave given before you, 5to heed the words of myservants the prophets whom I send to you early inthe morning, and I sent and you did not heed me,6I will also give over this house like Selo, and I willgive over the city as a curse, to all the nations of theentire earth.

7 And the priests and the pseudo-prophets andall the people heard Ieremias speaking these wordsin the house of the Lord. 8And it happened whenIeremias had stopped speaking all that the Lordhad instructed him to speak to all the people, thenthe priests and the pseudo-prophets and all thepeople laid hold of him, saying, “You shall die bydeath! 9Whatever did you prophesy in the name ofthe Lord, saying, ‘This house shall be like Selo, andthis city shall be made desolate of inhabitants’?”And all the people assembled against Ieremias inthe house of the Lord.

10 And Iouda’s rulers heard this matter, andthey came up from the king’s house to the houseof the Lord and took their seat in the entry of thenew gate of the house of the Lord. 11And thepriests and the pseudo-prophets said to the rulersand to all the people, “A sentence of death on thisperson, because he has prophesied against thiscity, as you have heard with your own ears.”

12 And Ieremias spoke to the rulers and to allthe people, saying, “The Lord sent me to prophesyagainst this house and this city all the words youhave heard. 13And now make your ways and yourdeeds better, and obey the voice of the Lord, andthe Lord will cease from the evils that he has spo-ken against you. 14And behold, I am in yourhands. Do with me as seems advantageous and asis better to you. 15Only, in knowing you will knowthat, if you kill me, you are bringing innocentblood upon yourselves and upon this city andupon its inhabitants in it, because in truth the Lordhas sent me to you to speak all these words in yourears.”

16 And the rulers and all the people said to thepriests and to the pseudo-prophets, “There is nosentence of death on this person, because he hasspoken to us in the name of the Lord, our God.”17And men of the elders of the land arose and saidto the entire gathering of the people, 18“There wasMichaias the Morasthite in the days of KingHezekias of Iouda, and he said to all the people ofIouda: ‘Thus did the Lord say,

Sion shall be plowed like a field;and Ierousalem shall become untrodden,and the mountain of the house a forest

grove.’19Surely, when killing, Hezekias and all Iouda didnot kill him? Was it not that they feared the Lordand that they entreated the face of the Lord, andthe Lord ceased from the evils that he had spoken

aHeb = shouting


912 ieremias 33(26)–36(29)

against them? And we did great evils against oursouls!”

20 There was a person prophesying in thename of the Lord, Ourias son of Samaias fromKariathiarim, and he prophesied concerning thisland according to all the words of Ieremias. 21AndKing Ioakim and all the rulers heard all his words,and they were seeking to kill him, and Ouriasheard of it and entered into Egypt. 22And the kingsent men to Egypt, 23and they brought him fromthere and led him to the king, and he struck himwith a dagger and threw him into the burial placeof the sons of his people.

24 In any case, the hand of Achikam son ofSaphan was with Ieremias so as not to hand himover into the hands of the people to kill him.

34 (27.2)Thus did the Lord say: Make bondsand collars, and put them around your

neck. 2(3)And you will send them to the king of Id-umea and to the king of Moab and to the king ofthe sons of Ammon and to the king of Tyre and tothe king of Sidon by the hands of their envoys whoare coming to meet them in Ierousalem, to KingSedekias of Iouda. 3(4)And you will instruct themto say to their masters: Thus did the Lord, the Godof Israel say: Thus you shall say to your masters:4(5)Because it is I who by my great strength and mylofty effort have made the earth, I will also give itto whom it may seem good in my eyes, 5(6)I havegiven the earth to King Nabouchodonosor of Bab-ylon to be subject to him, and the wild animals ofthe field to work for him.

6(8) And the nation and the kingdom, as manyas do not put their neck under the yoke of the kingof Babylon, I will visit them with dagger and withfamine, said the Lord, until they fail in his hand.7(9)And you, do not keep heeding your pseudo-prophets and your diviners and your dreamers andyour soothsayers and your sorcerers, when theysay, “You shall not work for the king of Babylon,”8(10)because they are prophesying lies to you so asto distance you far from your land. 9(11)And the na-tion that brings its neck under the yoke of the kingof Babylon and works for him, I will also leave himon his own land, and it will work for him and willlive in ita.

10(12) And I spoke to King Sedekias of Ioudaaccording to all these words, saying: Bring yourneck, and work for the king of Babylon, 11(14)be-cause they are prophesying wrong things to you,12(15)because I did not send them, quoth the Lord,and they are prophesying wrongly in my name soas to destroy you, and you will perish, you andyour prophets who are [wrongly] prophesying liesto you.

13(16) I spoke to you and all this people andthe priests, saying, Thus did the Lord say: Do notlisten to the words of the prophets who are proph-esying to you, saying, “Behold, the vessels of theLord’s house are returning from Babylon,” bbe-cause they are prophesying wrong things to you;

14(17)I did not send themb. 15(18)If they are proph-ets and if there is a word of the Lord in them, letthem counter me, 16(19)because thus did the Lordsay: Even some of the remaining vessels,17(20)which the king of Babylon did not take whenhe exiled Iechonias from Ierousalem, 18(22)shallenter into Babylon, says the Lord.

35 (28.1)And it happened in the fourth year ofKing Sedekias of Iouda, in the fifth month

that the pseudo-prophet Hananias son of Azor,from Gabaon, said to me in the house of the Lord,in the sight of the priests and all the people, saying,2“Thus did the Lord say: I have crushed the yoke ofthe king of Babylon. 3Yet two years of days and Iwill bring back to this place the vessels of theLord’s house 4and Iechonias and the exile ofIouda, because I will crush the yoke of the king ofBabylon.”

5 And Ieremias said to Hananias in the sight ofall the people and in the sight of the priests whostood in the house of the Lord, 6and Ieremias said,“Truly, thus may the Lord do; may the Lord estab-lish the word which you prophesy, to bring back tothis place from Babylon the vessels of the house ofthe Lord and all the exile. 7In any case, hear a wordof the Lord that I speak in your ears and in the earsof all the people. 8The prophets who preceded meand preceded youc from ancient times also proph-esied with reference to much land and great king-doms for war. 9As for the prophet who prophesiedfor peace—when the matter came to pass, theywould know the prophet, him whom the Lord hadsent in faithfulness.”

10 And Hananias in the sight of all the peopletook the collars from the neck of Ieremias andcrushed them. 11And Hananias said in the sight ofthe people, saying, “Thus did the Lord say: Thus Iwill crush the yoke of the king of Babylon from thenecks of all the nations.” And Ieremias went on hisway.

12 And a word of the Lord came to Ieremiasafter Hananias had crushed the collars from hisneck: 13Go, and say to Hananias, saying, Thus didthe Lord say: Wooden collars you have crushed,and I will make iron collars in place of them!—14because thus did the Lord say: I have put an ironyoke on the neck of all the nations so that theymight work for the king of Babylon. 15AndIeremias said to Hananias, “The Lord has not sentyou, and you have made this people trust wrongly.16Therefore thus did the Lord say: Behold, I amsending you from off the earth. In this year youwill die.” 17And he died in the seventh month.

36 (29.1)And these are the words of the book,which Ieremias sent from Ierousalem to

the elders of the exile and to the priests and to thepseudo-prophets, as a letter to the exile in Babylonand to all the people, 2later than when King Iecho-nias and the queen and the eunuchs and every freeperson and prisoner and artisan had departed

aI.e. his own land bPossibly Because they are prophesying wrong things to you, I did not send them cGk = pl


ieremias 36(29)–37(30) 913

from Ierousalem, 3by the hand of Eleasa son ofSaphan and Gamarias son of Chelkias, whomKing Sedekias of Iouda sent to the king of Babylonin Babylon, saying: 4Thus did the Lord God of Is-rael say to the exile which I exiled from Ierou-salem: 5Build houses, and settle down, and plantorchards, and eat their fruit, 6and take wives, andproduce sons and daughters, and take wives foryour sons, and give your daughters to husbands,and multiply, and do not decrease, 7and seek forpeace of the land into which I have exiled youthere, and pray to the Lord on their behalf, be-cause in their peace there will be peace for you—8because thus did the Lord say: Do not let thepseudo-prophets who are among you persuadeyou, and do not let your diviners persuade you,and do not listen for your dreams that you dream,9because it is wrong what they are prophesying toyou in my name, and I did not send them—10be-cause thus did the Lord say: When Babylon’s sev-enty years are about to be completed, I will visityou, and I will establish my words upon you tobring your people back to this place. 11And I willplan a plan of peace for you, and not to give youthese evils. 12And pray to me, and I will listen toyou. 13And seek me out, and you will find me, be-cause you will seek me with your whole heart,14and I will appear to you.

15 Because you have said, “The Lord appointedprophets for us in Babylon,” 21thus did the Lordsay with reference to Achiab and with reference toSedekias: Behold, I am delivering them into thehands of the king of Babylon, and he shall strikethem before your eyes. 22And from them they shallreceive a curse in the whole exile of Iouda in Bab-ylon, saying: “May the Lord make you as he madeSedekias and as Achiab, whom the king of Babylonroasted in the fire,” 23on account of the lawless-ness they perpetrated in Israel, and they wouldcommit adultery with the wives of their citizensand gave as oracle in my name a word that I didnot instruct them, and it is I that am witness,quoth the Lord.

24 And to Samaias the Nelamite you shall say:25I did not send you in my name and to say to thepriest Sophonias son of Maasaias: 26The Lord hasgiven you as priest instead of the priest Iodae to bean officer in the house of the Lord over every per-son prophesying and every person in a frenzy, andyou will give him over to the lockup and to thesluice. 27And now why have you not reviledIeremias of Anathoth who prophesied to you?28Has he not for this reason sent to us in Babylon,saying, “It is far off; build houses, and settle down,and plant gardens, and eat their fruit”?

29 And Sophonias read the document in theears of Ieremias. 30And a word of the Lord came toIeremias, saying: 31Send to the exile, saying, Thusdid the Lord say with reference to Samaias theNelamite: Whereas Samaias has prophesied toyou, and I did not send him, and he has made youtrust wrongly, 32therefore thus did the Lord say:Behold, I am going to visit upon Samaias andupon his family, and he shall not have a person in

your midst to see the good that I am going to dofor you.

37 (30.1)The word that came to Ieremias fromthe Lord to say: 2Thus did the Lord, the

God of Israel, say, saying: Write in a book all thewords that I gave you as oracles, 3because, behold,days are coming, quoth the Lord, and I will bringback the exile of my people, Israel and Iouda, saidthe Lord, and I will bring them back to the landthat I gave to their fathers, and they shall have do-minion over it.

4 And these are the words that the Lord spokewith reference to Israel and Iouda.5 Thus did the Lord say:

A sound of fear you will hear.Fear there is, and no peace.

6 Ask, and see if a male gave birth,and about fear, with which they will hold

on to loin and safety.[Why have I seen every person, and his

hands are on his loins?]Faces turned, they became jaundiced,

7 because that day is greatand there is none like it;

it is a limited time for Iakob,8 and from this he shall be saved.

(8) On that day, said the Lord, I will shatter ayoke from off their neck, and I will burst theirbonds, and they shall no more work for foreigners.9And they shall work for the Lord, their God, andI will raise up Dauid as their king for them.

12 Thus did the Lord say:I raised up a fracture;

your wound was grievous.13 There is no one to judge your cause;

you were doctored into pain;there is no benefit for you.

14 All your friends have forgotten you;they will never inquire;

because I struck you a blow of an enemy,firm discipline,

your sins multiplied relative to all yourinjustice.

16 Therefore all who eat you shall beconsumed,

and all your enemies shall eat all theirown flesh,

and those who plunder you shall becomeplunder,

and all those who ravage you I will giveover to ravaging,

17 because I will bring up your healingand I will cure you from a painful blow,

quoth the Lord,because you were called dispersed:

“She is our prey, because there is no oneseeking for her!”

18 Thus did the Lord say:Behold, I am bringing back the exile of

Iakoband will have mercy on his captivity,


914 ieremias 37(30)–38(31)

and a city shall be built upon itsa mound,and the shrine will sit on its rightful site.

19 And out of them shall come singersand the sound of merrymakers.

And I will make them many,and they shall not be made few.

20 And their sons shall go in as formerly,and their testimonies shall be rectified

before me,and I will visit those who oppress them.

21 And his stronger ones shall be over them,and his ruler shall come out from his

midst,and I will gather them, and they shall return

to me,because who is this that gave his heart to

return to me?quoth the Lord,

23 because a fierce wrath of the Lord has goneforth;

a revolving wrath has gone forth;it will come upon the impious.

24 Wrath of the Lord’s anger shall not turnback

until he has executedand until he has accomplishedthe undertaking of his heart.

In the latter days you will understand them.

38 (31.1)At that time, said the Lord, I will be-come a god to the race of Israel, and they

shall become a people to me.2 Thus did the Lord say:

I found him warm in a wilderness withpeople

that perished by dagger.Go, and do not destroy Israel!

3 The Lord appeared to him from far away.I have loved you with an everlasting love;

therefore I have drawn you intocompassion.

4 Again I will build you, and you shall bebuilt,

O virgin Israel!Again you shall take your tambourine

and go forth with a gathering of jesters.5 Again you shall plant vineyards

on the mountains of Samaria.Plant, and praise,

6 because it is a day of calling of peoplewho argue in the mountains of Ephraim:

“Rise up, and go up to Sion,to the Lord our God,”

7 because thus did the Lord say to Iakob:Be glad, and neigh for the head of nations;

make heard, and give praise;say, “The Lord saved his people,the remnant of Israel.”

8 Behold, I am bringing them from the north,and I will gather them from the farthest

part of the earthat the feast of phasekb,

and you will breed a large crowd,and they shall return here.

9 With weeping they went out,and with consolation I will bring them

up,making them lodge by canals of waters

in a straight road,and they shall not wander in it,because I became a father to Israel,

and Ephraim is my firstborn.

10 Hear a word of the Lord, O nations,and declare it in the islands far off; say,

“He who winnowed Israel will gather himand will keep him, as he who feeds his

flock.”11 Because the Lord has redeemed Iakob,

he has delivered him from the hand ofpeople stronger than he.

12 And they shall come and be glad on themountain of Sion,

and they shall come to the good things ofthe Lord,

to a land of grain and wineand fruit and cattle and sheep,

and their soul shall become like a fruitfultree,

and they shall hunger no more.13 Then shall girls rejoice in a gathering of

young men,and the old shall rejoice,

and I will turn their mourning into joy,and I will make them glad.

14 I will magnify and intoxicate the soul of thepriests, sons of Leui,

and my people shall be satisfied with mygood things.

15 Thus did the Lord say:A voice of lamentation and weeping

and mourning was heard in Rama;Rachel did not want to stop weeping for her

sons,because they are not.

16 Thus did the Lord say:Let your voice cease from weeping,

and your eyes from tears,because there is a wage for your works,

and they shall come back from a land ofenemies;

17 there will be permanence for your children.

18 In hearing I heard Ephraim mourning:“You instructed me, and I was instructed;

I was not trained like a calf.Bring me back, and I shall come back,

because you are the Lord my God.19 Because clater thanc my captivity I repented,

and dlater than that I becamed aware, Isighed for days of shame,

and I yielded to you,because I bore the disgrace of my youth.”

aI.e. city's bHeb = passover cI.e. induced by dI.e. induced by my becoming


ieremias 38(31)–39(32) 915

20 Ephraim is my beloved son,a child to delight in;

because, since my words are in him,I will remember him with remembrance.

Therefore I hurried for him;in having mercy I will have mercy on

him,quoth the Lord.

21 Set up for yourself sionima;make timrorimb;give your heart to the shoulders.

Return by the road which you went,O virgin Israel.

Return to your cities in mourning.22 How long will you turn away,

O dishonored daughter?—because the Lord has created salvation for a

new plantingin which people will go about in

safety.

23 Thus did the Lord say: Once more they shallspeak this word in the land of Iouda and in his cit-ies when I bring back his captivity:

“Blessed be the Lordon his righteous, holy mountain!”

24And there shall be people dwelling in the citiesof Iouda, and in all his land, together with thefarmer, and he shall be craised upc with a flock,25 because I intoxicated every thirsty soul

and every hungry soul I replenished.26 For this reason I awoke and saw, and my

sleep was pleasant to me.27 Therefore behold, days are coming, quoth

the Lord, and I will sow Israel and Iouda with theseed of a human and the seed of an animal. 28Andit shall be just as I used to watch over them to pulldown and bring evil, so I will watch over them tobuild and to plant, quoth the Lord. 29In those daysthey shall not say:

“The fathers have eaten unripe grapes,and the children’s teeth were set on

edge.”30But each shall die for his own sins, and the teethof him who eats unripe grapes shall be set on edge.

31 Behold, days are coming, quoth the Lord,and I will make a new covenant with the house ofIsrael and the house of Iouda. 32It will not be likethe covenant that I made with their fathers in theday when I took them by their hand to bringthem out of the land of Egypt, because they didnot abide in my covenant, and I was unconcernedfor them, quoth the Lord, 33because this is thecovenant that I will make with the house of Isra-el after those days, quoth the Lord. Giving I willgive my laws in their mind, and I will write themon their hearts, and I will become a god to them,and they shall become a people to me. 34Andthey shall not teach, each his fellow citizen andeach his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” be-cause they shall all know me, from their small

even to their great, because I will be gracious re-garding their injustices, and remember their sinsno more.

35(37)If the sky be elevated to midair,quoth the Lord,

and if the floor of the earth below bebrought low,

even then I will not reject the race ofIsrael,

quoth the Lord,because of all they have done.

36(35)Thus did the Lord say,who gives the sun as light by day,

moon and stars as light by night,and a scream in the sea

and its waves made a booming noise—

the Lord Almighty is his name:37(36)If these laws cease

from before me, quoth the Lord,also the race of Israel will cease

to be a nation before me, all the days.

38 Behold, days are coming, quoth the Lord,and a city shall be built for the Lord from the towerof Hananeel to the gate of the corner. 39And itsmeasuring shall go out before them to the hills ofGareb, and it shall be encompassed all round witha circle of choice stones. 40And all hasaremothd asfar as Nachal Kedron, to the corner of the gate ofhorses in the east, a holy precinct to the Lord, andit shall never again fail and shall never ever be de-stroyed.

39 (32.1)The word that came from the Lord toIeremias in the tenth year of King Sedekias;

this was the eighteenth year for King Nabou-chodonosor of Babylon. 2And the force of the kingof Babylon raised a barricade against Ierousalem,and Ieremias was being confined in the court ofthe guard that was in the house of the king 3inwhich King Sedekias had shut him up, saying,“Why do you prophesy, saying: Thus did the Lordsay: Behold, I am giving this city in the hands ofthe king of Babylon, and he shall take it, 4andSedekias shall not be saved out of the hand of theChaldeans, because in handing over he shall behanded over into the hands of the king of Babylon,and his mouth shall speak to his mouth and hiseyes shall see his eyes, 5and Sedekias shall enterinto Babylon and be seated there.”

6 And a word of the Lord came to Ieremias, say-ing: 7Behold, Hanameel son of Salom your father’sbrother is coming to you, saying, “Acquire foryourself the field that is at Anathoth, because theright of acquisition is yours to take.” 8AndHanameel son of Salom my father’s brother cameto me in the court of the guard and said to me, “Ac-quire my field that is in the land of Beniamin atAnathoth, because the right to acquire is yours,

aHeb = road marks bHeb = guideposts cPerhaps gotten under way dHeb = the fields?


916 ieremias 39(32)–40(33)

and you are the elder. And I knew that it was aword of the Lord.

9 And I acquired the field from Hanameel sonof my father’s brother and weighed out to him sev-enteen shekels of silver. 10And I wrote in a docu-ment and sealed it and got witnesses to witnessand weighed the silver on a scale. 11And I took thedocument of purchase, the sealed one and theopen one, 12and I gave it to Barouch son of Neriasson of Maasaias, in the sight of Hanameel son ofmy father’s brother and in the sight of those whowere present and signed the document of pur-chase, and in the sight of the Judeans who were inthe court of the guard. 13And in their sight I in-structed Barouch, saying, 14Thus did the LordAlmighty say: Take this document of purchase andthe open document, and you shall put it in anearthenware jar in order that it may last for rathermany days, 15because thus did the Lord say: Fieldsand houses and vineyards shall again be bought inthis land.

16 And after I had given the document of pur-chase to Barouch son of Nerias, I prayed to theLord, saying: 17“You That Are, Lord! It is you whomade the sky and the earth by your great strengthand by your high arm! Nothing shall be hiddenfrom you 18when you do mercy for thousands andrepay the sins of fathers into the laps of their chil-dren after them, you the great, the strong God,19Lord of great counsel and powerful in deeds, thegreat God Almighty, Lord of great name. Your eyesare on the ways of the sons of men, to give each ac-cording to his way, 20you who performed signsand wonders in the land of Egypt to this day bothin Israel and among the earthborn, and you havemade yourself a name, as this day. 21And youbrought your people Israel out of the land of Egyptwith signs and with wonders and with a stronghand and with a high arm 22and with great specta-cles, and you gave them this land, which you sworeto their fathers, a land flowing with milk andhoney, 23and they entered and took it and did notobey your voice and did not walk by your ordi-nances; all you commanded them they did not do.And you have made all these evils to happen tothem. 24Behold, a crowd has come againsta the cityto take it, and the city has been given into thehands of the Chaldeans who are fighting it frombefore the dagger and the famine. As you spoke, soit happened. 25And you are saying to me, “Acquirefor yourself the field for money.” And I wrote adocument and sealed it and had witnesses witnessit, and the city was given into the hands of theChaldeans.

26 And a word of the Lord came to me, saying:27I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; surely noth-ing will be hidden from me? 28Therefore, thus didthe Lord say: When this city is surrendered it willbe given over into the hands of the king of Bab-ylon, and he shall seize it. 29And the Chaldeanswho are fighting against this city shall come andshall burn this city with fire, and they shall burn

down the houses in which, on their roofs, theyburnt incense to the goddess Baal and they wouldpour libations to other gods so as to embitter me,30because the sons of Israel and the sons of Ioudawere alone in doing evil in my sight from theiryouth, 31because this city existed for my wrath andfor my anger, from the day they built it even untilthis day, to remove it from before me, 32because ofall the evils of the sons of Israel and Iouda thatthey did to embitter me, they and their kings andtheir rulers and their priests and their prophets,men of Iouda and those that inhabit Ierousalem.33And they have turned their back to me and nottheir face, and I have taught them in the earlymorning, and I have taught, and they did not hearto accept instruction. 34And they set up their de-filements in the house, where my name is calledon it, in their impurities. 35And they built the al-tarsb to the goddess Baal, which are in the valley ofHennom’s son, to offer up their sons and theirdaughters to cthe kingc, things which I did not in-struct them to do, and it did not arise in my heartthat they do this abomination so as to cause Ioudato sin.

36 And now thus did the Lord, the God of Is-rael, say with reference to the city of which yousay, “It will be given over into the hands of theking of Babylon by dagger and by famine and bydispatch”: 37Behold, I am gathering them fromevery land, there where I dispersed them in mywrath and in my anger and in great irritation, andI will bring them back to this place, and I will set-tle them in confidence. 38And they shall becomea people to me, and I will become a god to them.39And I will give them another way and anotherheart, to fear me all the days, both for their owngood and for that of their children after them.40And I will make an everlasting covenant withthem, which I will not turn away from behindthem, and I will assign my fear to their heart sothat they may not turn away from me. 41And Iwill visit them to do good to them, and I willplant them in this land in faithfulness, both withall my heart and with all my soul, 42because thusdid the Lord say: Just as I have brought all thesegreat evils upon this people, so I will bring uponthem all the good that I told them. 43And fieldsshall be acquired again in the land of which youare saying, It is untrodden by human being or an-imal, and they were given over into the hands ofthe Chaldeans. 44And they shall acquire fieldswith money, and you shall write in a documentand seal it and have witnesses witness it in theland of Beniamin and around Ierousalem and inthe cities of Iouda and in the cities of the moun-tain and in the cities of the Sephela and in the cit-ies of the Nageb, because I will bring back theirexiles.

40 (33.1)And a word of the Lord came toIeremias a second time, and he was still

confined in the court of the guard, saying: 2Thus

aOr into bGk = bômos cHeb = Molech


ieremias 40(33)–41(34) 917

did the Lord say, when he was making earth andforming it to establish it—the Lord is his name:3Cry to me, and I will answer you and will tell yougreat and mighty things, them that you have notknown, 4because thus did the Lord say concern-ing the houses of this city and concerning thehouses of the king of Iouda that have been torndown for stakes and breastworks 5to do battleagainst the Chaldeans and to fill it with corpses ofpeople whom I struck in my wrath and in myanger, and I turned away my face from them forall their acts of wickedness. 6Behold, I am bring-ing it soundness and healing, and I will makeclear to them and heal it and make for them peaceand trust. 7I will return the exile of Iouda and theexile of Israel and build them as they were before.8And I will cleanse them from all their injusticeswhich they sinned against me, and I will not re-member their sins which they sinned against meand they withdrew from me. 9And it shall be forgladness and for praise and for greatness for allthe people of the earth, whoever shall hear of allthe good that I shall perform, and they shall fearand be embittered concerning all the good andconcerning all the peace which I shall make forthem.

10 Thus did the Lord say: There shall yet beheard in this place of which you say, “It is a wilder-ness aapart froma human beings and animals,” inthe cities of Iouda and outside of Ierousalem, thatare desolate, to the point that there are no humanbeing or animal, 11a voice of gladness and a voiceof joy, a voice of bridegroom and a voice of bride,a voice of people saying,

“Acknowledge the Lord Almighty,because the Lord is kind,because his mercy is forever!”

And they will bring gifts into the house of theLord, because I will return the exile of that land asbefore, said the Lord.

12 Thus did the Lord say: There shall again bein this place that is waste and in all its cities, lodg-ings of shepherds resting sheep. 13In the cities ofthe hill country and in the cities of the Sephela andin the cities of the Nageb and in the land of Beni-amin and in those around Ierousalem and in thecities of Iouda sheep shall again pass under thehand of one who counts them, said the Lord.

41 (34.1)The word that came to Ieremias fromthe Lord, and King Nabouchodonosor of

Babylon and all his army and all the land underhis dominion were fighting against Ierousalemand against all the cities of Iouda, saying: 2Thusdid the Lord say: Go to King Sedekias of Iouda,and you shall say to him: Thus did the Lord say: Insurrender this city shall be surrendered into thehands of the king of Babylon, and he shall seize itand burn it with fire. 3Even you shall not be savedfrom his hand, and with a seizing you shall beseized and given over into his hands, and your eyesshall see his eyes, and you shall enter into Babylon.

4But hear a word of the Lord, O King Sedekias ofIouda! Thus says the Lord, 5You shall die in peace.And as they wept for your fathers, those whoreigned before you, they shall also weep for youand lament for you: “Alas, Adonb,” because I havespoken a word, said the Lord.

6 And Ieremias spoke all these words to KingSedekias in Ierousalem, 7and the force of the kingof Babylon was fighting against Ierousalem andagainst the cities of Iouda, against Lachis andagainst Azeka, because these were left among thecities of Iouda as strong cities.

8 The word that came to Ieremias from theLord, after King Sedekias had concluded a cov-enant with the people to call for a release, 9tosend off free each his Hebrew male servant andeach his Hebrew female servant so as not to havea man from Iouda in slavery. 10And all the noblesand all the people, who had entered into the cov-enant to dismiss each his male servant and eachhis female servant, reneged and let them 11be theirmale and female servants. 12And a word of theLord came to Ieremias, saying: 13Thus did theLord say: It was I that made a covenant with yourfathers in the day I delivered them from the landof Egypt, from a house of slavery, saying, 14“Whensix years are complete, you shall dismiss your He-brew brother, who will be sold to you. And heshall work for you for six years, and you shall sendhim off free.” And they did not hear me and didnot incline their ear. 15And today they haveturned to do what is right before my eyes, to callfor a release, each of his fellow, and they conclud-ed a covenant before me in the house where myname is called on it. 16And you turned and pro-faned my name when each of you turned back hismale servant and each his female servant, whomyou had sent off free, for their own self, as maleand female servants for you. 17Therefore, thus didthe Lord say: You have not obeyed me by callingfor a release, each pertaining to his fellow. Behold,I am calling for a release for you to the dagger andto death and to the famine, and I will give you asa dispersion to all the kingdoms of the earth.18And as for the men who have transgressed mycovenant, those that did not stand by my covenantthat they made before me, I will render them asthe bull calf which they made, to work for itc:19the rulers of Iouda and those with power andthe priests and the people. 20And I will hand themover to their enemies. And their carcasses shall be-come food for the birds of the air and the wild an-imals of the earth. 21And as for King Sedekias ofJudea and their rulers, I will hand them over intothe hands of their enemies—and the force of theking of Babylon is for those that are running awayfrom them. 22Behold, I am giving instructions,quoth the Lord, and will bring them back to thisland, and they will fight against it and take it andburn it down with fire, and the cities of Iouda, andI will render them desolate aapart froma inhabi-tants.

aI.e. without bHeb = lord cI.e. calf


918 ieremias 42(35)–43(36)

42 (35.1)The word that came to Ieremiasfrom the Lord in the days of King Ioakim

of Iouda, saying: 2Go to the house of Archabina,and you shall bring them into the house of theLord, into one of the courts, and you shall offerthem wine to drink. 3And I brought out Iezoniasson of Ieremin son of Chabasin and his brothersand his sons and the whole house of Archabina.4And I brought them into the house of the Lordinto the priestly chamber of the sons of Hana-nias son of Godolias, man of God, which wasnear the house of the rulers who were over thehouse of Maasaias son of Selom, the keeper ofthe court. 5And I gave before them a jug of wineand cups, and I said, “Drink wine.” 6And theysaid, “We will not drink wine, because our fatherIonadab son of Rechab commanded us, saying,‘You shall not drink wine, you and your sons for-ever, 7and you shall not build a house, and youshall not sow seed, and you shall not have a vine-yard, because you shall live in tents all your days,that you may live many days in the land in whichyou spent time in it.’ 8And we have obeyed thevoice of our father Ionadab so as not to drinkwine all our days, we and our wives and our sonsand our daughters, 9and so as not to buildhouses to live there. And we did not have vine-yard and field and seed, 10and we have lived in tents and obeyed and acted in accordancewith all that our father Ionadab commanded us. 11And it happened, when King Nabouchod-onosor of Babylon came up against the land, wealso said, ‘Come, and let us enter into Ierou-salem from before the force of the Chaldeansand from before the force of the Assyrians,’ andwe are living there.”

12 And a word of the Lord came to me, saying:13Thus says the Lord: Go, and say to a person ofIouda and the inhabitants of Ierousalem, Will younot receive instruction to obey my words? 14Thesons of Ionadab son of Rechab upheld the dictumwhich he commanded his children so as not todrink wine, and they did not drink. And I spoke toyou early, and I spoke, and you did not obey.15And I have sent to you my servants the prophets,saying, “Turn, everyone from his evil way, andmake your doings better, and do not go after othergods to be slaves to them, and live in the land thatI gave to you and your fathers.” And you did notincline your ears and did not obey. 16And the sonsof Ionadab son of Rechab have upheld the com-mand of their father, but this people have notobeyed me. 17Therefore, thus did the Lord say: Be-hold, I am bringing on Iouda and on the inhabi-tants of Ierousalem all the evils that I have spokenagainst them.

18 Therefore, thus did the Lord say: Whereasthe sons of Ionadab son of Rechab have obeyedthe command of their father, to do just as their fa-ther commanded them, 19Ionadab son of Rechabshall not lack a man to stand before me for all thedays of the earth.

43 (36.1)In the fourth year of Ioakim son ofIosias, king of Iouda, a word of the Lord

came to me saying: 2Take for yourself a small rollof a book, and write on it all the words that I gaveyou as oracles against Ierousalem and againstIouda and against all the nations, from the day ofmy speaking to you, from the days of King Iosias ofIouda even until this day. 3Perhaps the house ofIouda will hear of all the evil that I intend to do tothem in order that they turn from their evil way,and I shall be gracious regarding their injusticesand their sins.

4 And Ieremias called Barouch son of Nerias,and Barouchb wrote on a small roll of a bookfrom the mouth of Ieremias all the words of theLord that he had given as oracles to him. 5AndIeremias commanded Barouch, saying, “I amunder guard. I shall not be able to enter into thehouse of the Lord, 6and on a day of fasting youshall read from this small roll into the ears of thepeople in the Lord’s house and in the ears of everyone of Iouda, those that come out from theircity—you shall read to them. 7Perhaps mercy forthemc will come about before the Lord, and theyc

will turn them out of their evil way, because greatis the anger and wrath of the Lord that bthe Lordb

spoke against this people.” 8And Barouch did ac-cording to all that Ieremias commanded him, toread in the book the Lord’s words in the Lord’shouse.

9 And it happened in the eighth year of KingIoakim, in the ninth month, all the people in Ie-rousalem and the house of Iouda proclaimed inassembly a fast before the Lord. 10And in the earsof the people, Barouch would read words ofIeremias from the book, in the house of the Lord,in the house of Gamarias son of Saphan the secre-tary, in the upper court, at the entry of the new gateof the Lord’s house.

11 And Michaias son of Gamarias son ofSaphan heard all the words of the Lord from thebook. 12And he went down to the king’s house,into the secretary’s house, and behold, all therulers were sitting there: Elisama the secretary andDalaias son of Selemias and Ionathan son of Ak-chobor and Gamarias son of Saphan and Sedekiasson of Hananias and all the rulers. 13And Micha-ias told them all the words that he had heardBarouch read in the ears of the people. 14And allthe rulers sent Ioudin son of Nathanias son of Se-lemias son of Chousi to Barouch son of Nerias,saying, “The small roll in which you were readingin it, in the ears of the people, take it into yourhand, and come.” And Barouch dson of Neriasd

took the small roll and went down to them.15And they said to him, “Again read it into ourears.” And Barouch read. 16And it happened,when they heard all the words, they took counsel,each with his fellow, and they said, “In reportinglet us report all these words to the king.” 17Andthey questioned Barouch, saying, “From wheredid you write all these words?” 18And Barouch

aHeb = the Rechabites bhe = Zi cI.e. those from outside Ierousalem dOm = Zi


ieremias 43(36)–45(38) 919

said, “From his mouth Ieremias proclaimed to meall these words, and I would write them in abook.” 19And they said to Barouch, “Go, hide,you and Ieremias, and let no person know whereyou are.”

20 And they entered to the king in the court,and the small roll they gave to be watched in thehouse of Elisama, and they reported all the wordsto the king. 21And the king sent Ioudin to take thesmall roll, and he took it from the house ofElisama, and Ioudin read it into the ears of theking and into the ears of all the rulers who stoodaround the king. 22And the king was sitting in hiswinter house, and there was a hearth of fire infront of him. 23And it happened when Ioudinwould read three or four columns, hea would cutthem off with the secretary’s penknife and wouldthrow them into the fire that was in the hearth,until the entire roll had vanished into the fire thatwas in the hearth. 24And the king and his servants,who were hearing all these words, were notalarmed, and they did not tear their garments.25And Elnathan and Dalaiasb and Gamarias sug-gested to the king not to burn the small roll. 26Andthe king commanded Ieremeel the king’s son andSaraias son of Esriel to arrest Barouch andIeremias. And they were hidden.

27 And after the king had burned the smallroll, all the words that Barouch wrote from themouth of Ieremias, a word of the Lord came toIeremias, saying: 28Again, take another small roll,and write all the words that were in the small roll,which words King Ioakim has burned. 29And youshall say: Thus did the Lord say, You burned thissmall roll, saying, Why have you written on it, say-ing, In coming the king of Babylon will come anddestroy utterly this land, and human and animalswill fail from it? 30Therefore thus did the Lord saywith reference to King Ioakim of Iouda: He shallhave no one to sit upon the throne of Dauid, andhis carcass shall lie cast out in the heat of the dayand in the frost of the night. 31And I will visit uponhim and upon his family and upon his servants,and I will bring upon them and upon the inhabi-tants of Ierousalem and upon the land of Iouda allthe evils, which I have spoken to them—and theydid not listen.

32 And Barouch took another small roll andwrote on it from the mouth of Ieremias all thewords of the book, which words Ioakim hadburned, and more words like these were yet addedto them.

44 (37.1)And Sedekias son of Iosias becameking in place of Ioakim, whom King

Nabouchodonosor of Babylon made king to beking over Iouda. 2And he and his servants and thepeople of the land did not obey the words of theLord that he spoke by the hand of Ieremias.

3 And King Sedekias sent Ioachal son of Se-lemias and the priest Sophonias son of Maasaiasto Ieremias, saying, “Pray for us to the Lord.”

4And Ieremias went and passed through themidst of the city, and they had not consigned himto the house of the guard. 5And a force of Pharaohad come out of Egypt, and the Chaldeans heardnews of them, and they withdrew from Ierou-salem.

6 And a word of the Lord came to Ieremias,saying: 7Thus did the Lord say: Thus you shall sayto the king of Iouda, who sent to you to inquire ofme, Behold, Pharao’s force, which came out for as-sistance, will return to the land of Egypt. 8And theChaldeans themselves shall return and fightagainst this city, and they shall seize it and burn itwith fire, 9because thus did the Lord say: Do notsuppose in your souls, saying, “In departing theChaldeans will go away from us,” for they will notgo away. 10Even if you struck the whole force ofthe Chaldeans, those who are fighting you, andthere remained of them some pierced, each in hisplace, these would rise up and burn this city withfire.

11 And it happened, when the force of theChaldeans had withdrawn from Ierousalem frombefore Pharao’s force, 12Ieremias set out from Ie-rousalem to go to the land of Beniamin to buyproperty there among the people. 13And he was atthe gate of Beniamin, and there was a person withwhom he used to lodge, Sarouia son of Selemiasson of Hananias, and he arrested Ieremias, saying,“You are fleeing to the Chaldeans.” 14And he said,“That is a lie; I am not fleeing to the Chaldeans.”And he did not listen to him, and Sarouia arrestedIeremias and brought him to the rulers. 15And therulers were embittered against Ieremias, and theystruck him and sent him to the house of the secre-tary Ionathan, because they had made this into ahouse of the guard. 16And Ieremias went into thehouse of the cistern and into the cherethc and satthere many days.

17 And King Sedekias sent word and calledhim. And the king questioned him secretly to say ifthere was a word from the Lord. And he said,“There is! You shall be handed over into the handsof the king of Babylon.” 18And Ieremias said to theking, “What wrong have I done you and your ser-vants and this people that you are giving me overinto the house of the guard? 19And where are yourprophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The kingof Babylon will not come against this land’? 20Andnow, my lord king, let mercy for me come aboutbefore you, and why do you return me to thehouse of the secretary Ionathan? And shall I notdie there?” 21And the king gave instructions, andthey committed him to the court of the guard andwould give him one loaf of bread a day from out-side where they bake until the bread of the citywas gone. And Ieremias sat in the court of theguard.

45 (38.1)And Saphatias son of Matthan andGodolias son of Paschor and Ioachal son

of Selemias heard the words that Ieremias was

aI.e. the king bGodolias = Zi cHeb = ?


920 ieremias 45(38)–47(40)

speaking to the crowd, saying, 2Thus did the Lordsay, He who lives in this city shall die by sword andby famine, and he who goes out to the Chaldeansshall live, and his soul shall be his windfall, and heshall live, 3because thus did the Lord say, In beinghanded over this city shall be handed over into thehands of the force of the king of Babylon, and heshall seize it. 4And they said to the king, “Let thatperson be put to death, because he is relaxing thehands of the people that fight, who are left in thecity, and the hands of all the people, by speakingsuch words to them. For this person does not utteran oracle of peace to this people but only hard-ship.” 5And the king said, “Behold, he is in yourhands,” because the king was powerless againstthem. 6And they threw him into a cistern ofMelchias, the king’s son, which was in the court ofthe guard, and they let him down into the cistern.And there was no water in the cistern, but onlymire, and he was in the mire.

7 And Abdemelech the Ethiopian—and he wasin the king’s house—heard that they had con-signed Ieremias to the cistern. And the king was atthe gate of Beniamin. 8And he went out to him,and he spoke to the king and said, 9“You actedwickedly in what you did to kill this person frombefore the famine, because there is no longer anybread in the city.” 10And the king commanded Ab-demelech, saying, “Take in hand thirty personsfrom here, and bring him up out of the cistern sothat he may not die.” 11And Abdemelech took thepersons and entered into the house of the king—the underground chamber—and took from thereold rags and old ropes and threw them into the cis-tern to Ieremias. 12And he said, “Put these underthe ropes.” And Ieremias did so. 13And they drewhim up by the ropes and brought him up out ofthe cistern. And Ieremias sat in the court of theguard.

14 And the king sent word and called him tohimself at the house of Aselisela, which is in thehouse of the Lord. And the king said to him, “I willask you a matter, and do not hide any dictum fromme.” 15And Ieremias said to the king, “If I tell you,will you not put me to death with death? And if Igive you advice, you will not hear me.” 16And theking swore to him, saying, “The Lord lives, whomade for us this life, if I shall kill you and if I shallgive you into the hands of these people!”

17 And Ieremias said to him, “Thus did theLord say, If in going out you go out to the leadersof the king of Babylon, your soul shall live, andthis city shall not be burned with fire, and youshall live and your house. 18And if you do not goout, this city shall be handed over into the handsof the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire,and you shall not be saved.” 19And the king said toIeremias, “I have a concern regarding the Judeanswho have fled to the Chaldeans, lest they give meinto their hands and they shall mock me.” 20AndIeremias said, “They will not deliver you up. Obeya word of the Lord, which I say to you, and it shall

be better for you, and your soul shall live. 21And ifyou are not willing to go out, this is the word theLord has shown me: 22And behold, all the womenthat are left in the house of the king of Iouda werebeing led out to the rulers of the king of Babylon,and they kept saying,

‘Your men of peace have misled youand will overpower you,

and they will sink your feet in slipperiness;they turned away from you.’

23And your wives and your children they shalllead out to the Chaldeans, and you shall not besaved, because you shall be seized by the hand ofthe king of Babylon, and this city shall be burneddown.”

24 And the king said to him, “Let no personknow any of these words, and you will not die.25And if the rulers hear that I have spoken withyou, and they come to you and say to you, Tell uswhat the king said to you; do not conceal it fromus, and we will not kill you. And what did the kingsay to you?’ 26And you shall say to them, ‘I amcasting pity for me in the sight of the king so as notto return me to the house of Ionathan to diethere.’ “ 27And all the rulers came to Ieremias andquestioned him, and he told them according to allthese words which the king had commanded him.And they maintained silence, because a word ofthe Lord was not heard. 28And Ieremias sat in thecourt of the guard until the time when Ierousalemwas seized.

46 (39.1)And it happened in the ninth year ofKing Sedekias of Iouda, in the tenth

month, King Nabouchodonosor of Babylon andall his force came against Ierousalem, and theywere laying siege to it, 2and in the eleventh year ofSedekias, in the fourth month, on the ninth of themonth, the city was breached. 3And all the leadersof the king of Babylon entered and sat in the mid-dle gate: Nargalsarasar, Samagoth, Nabousarsachar,Nabousaris, Nargalsaraser, Rabamag and the restof the leaders of the king of Babylon. 14And theysent and took Ieremias from the court of the guardand gave him to Godolias son of Achikam son ofSaphan, and they brought him out, and he sat inthe midst of the people.

15 And a word of the Lord came to Ieremias inthe court of the guard, saying: 16Go, and say to Ab-demelech the Ethiopian: Thus did the Lord, theGod of Israel, say: Behold, I am bringing my wordsagainst this city for evil and not for good. 17And Iwill save you on that day, and I shall not hand youover into the hands of the people, before themwhom you fear, 18because in saving I will save you,and you shall not fall by sword, and your soul shallbe your windfall, because you have trusted in me,quoth the Lord.

47 (40.1)The word that came from the Lord toIeremias after Nabouzardan the chief cook

from Dama sent him off, when he took him in

aHeb = the third


ieremias 47(40)–49(42) 921

handcuffs in the midst of the exile of Iouda, thoseled away to Babylon. 2And the chief cook took himand said to him, “The Lord, your God, has given inoracles these evils against this place, 3and the Lordacted, because you sinned against him and did notobey his voice. 4Behold, I have released you fromthe handcuffs on your hands. If it is good beforeyou to come with me to Babylon, come, and I willset my eyes on you. 5But if not, depart, and returnto Godolias son of Achikam son of Saphan, whomthe king of Babylon has appointed in the land ofIouda, and live with him among the people in theland of Iouda. Go to all that is good in your eyesto go to.” And the chief cook gave him presentsand sent him off. 6And he went to Godolias atMassepha and settled among the people who wereleft in the land.

7 And all the leaders of the force in the opencountry, they and their men, heard that the king ofBabylon had appointed Godolias in the land andthat he had committed to him men and theirwomen, whom he had not exiled to Babylon. 8Andthere came to Godolias at Massepha Ismael son ofNathanias and Ioanan son of Karee and Saraia sonof Thanaemeth and sons of Ophei the Netophatiand Iezonias son of the Moochati, they and theirmen. 9And Godolias swore to them and their men,saying, “Do not be afraid before the servants of theChaldeans. Settle in the land. and work for theking of Babylon, and it shall be better for you.10And behold, I am stationed before you atMassepha, to stand before the Chaldeans who maycome to us, and as for you, gather wine and sum-mer fruit and oil, and put them in your vessels, andlive in the cities that you have taken over.” 11Andall the Judeans, those in Moab and those amongthe sons of Ammon and those in Idumea andthose in any other land, heard that the king of Bab-ylon had given a remnant to Iouda and that he hadappointed over them Godolias son of Achikam.12And they came to Godolias to the land of Ioudaat Massepha, and they gathered wine and summerfruit in great abundance.

13 And Ioanan son of Karee and all the leadersof the force, those in the open fields, came toGodolias at Massepha 14and said to him, “Do youknow by knowledge that Beelias, king of the sonsof Ammon, has sent to you Ismael to strike yoursoul?” And Godolias did not believe them. 15AndIoanan said to Godolias secretly at Massepha, “Iwill indeed go and strike Ismael, and let no oneelse know, lest he slay your soul, and all Iouda,those gathered to you, be scattered, and those re-maining of Iouda shall perish.” 16And Godoliassaid to Ioanan, “Do not do this thing, because youare telling lies about Ismael.”

48 (41.1)And it happened in the seventhmonth, Ismael son of Nathanias son of

Eleasa of the family of the king came and ten menwith him to Godolias at Massepha. And they atebread together there. 2And Ismael got up, and the

ten men who were with him, and they struckGodolias, whom the king of Babylon had appoint-ed over the land, 3and all the Judeans who werewith him at Massepha and all the Chaldeans whowere found there.

4 And it happened on the second day after hehad struck Godolias, and no person knew, 5menalso arrived from Sychem and from Salem andfrom Samaria, eighty men with their beards shavedand their clothes torn and beating themselves, andmanaaa and frankincense in their hands to bring tothe house of the Lord. 6And Ismael came out tomeet them. They were going and weeping, and hesaid, “Enter to Godolias.” 7And it happened, whenthey came into the middle of the city, he slaugh-tered them into the well. 8And ten men werefound there, and they said to Ismael, “Do not killus, because we have stores of wheat and barley,honey and oil in a field.” And he passed them overand did not kill them in the midst of their broth-ers.

9 And the well into which Ismael had thrownall whom he had struck—this is a large well thatKing Asa had made from before King Baasa of Is-rael—Ismael filled this with the slain. 10And Is-mael turned away all the people who were left inMassepha, and the king’s daughters, whom thechief cook had committed to Godolias son ofAchikam. And he went away beyond the sons ofAmmon.

11 And Ioanan son of Karee and all the leadersof the force, those with him, heard of all the evilthat Ismael had done, 12and they brought theirwhole army and went out to fight him. And theyfound him at a great water in Gabaon. 13And ithappened when all the people who were with Is-mael saw Ioanan and the leaders of the force thatwas with him, 14they then went back to Ioanan.15And Ismael was saved with eight people andwent to the sons of Ammon. 16And Ioanan and allthe leaders of the force, those with him, took allthe rest of the people whom he had turned awayfrom Ismael—mighty men in war and the womenand the rest and the eunuchs, whom he broughtback from Gabaon. 17And they went out and set-tled at Gaberoth Chamaam, which is near Beth-leem, to go to Egypt 18from before the Chaldeans,because they feared before them, because Ismaelhad struck Godolias, whom the king of Babylonhad appointed in the land.

49 (42.1)And all the leaders of the force andIoanan and Azarias son of Maasaias and all

the people from small even to great approached2the prophet Ieremias and said to him, “Let mercyfor us come about before you, and pray to the Lord,your God, for these that remain, because there area few of us left out of many, as your eyes see. 3Andlet the Lord your God tell us the way we should goin it and the word we should do.” 4And Ieremiassaid to them, “I have heard; behold, I shall pray tothe Lord, your God, according to your words, and it

aHeb = grain offering


922 ieremias 49(42)–51(44)

shall be, the word whichever the Lord will answer,I will tell you; I will not hide from you what issaid.” 5And they in their turn said to Ieremias, “Letthe Lord be among us as a just and faithful witness,if—according to every word with which the Lordsends you to us—we shall not act thus. 6Both if it isgood and if it is bad, we will obey the voice of theLord, our God, to him to whom we are sendingyou, in order that it may go better with us, becausewe will obey the voice of the Lord our God.”

7 And it happened after ten days a word of theLord came to Ieremias. 8And he summonedIoanan and the leaders of the force and all the peo-ple from small even to great 9and said to them,“Thus did the Lord say: 10If in settling you settle inthis land, I will build you up and not pull down,and I will plant you and not pluck up, because Iam at rest regarding the evils that I have done toyou. 11Do not be afraid before the king of Babylon,whom you fear before him. Do not be afraid,quoth the Lord, because I am with you, to rescueyou and to save you from his hand. 12And I willgrant you mercy, and I will have mercy on you andreturn you to your land. 13And if you keep saying,‘We will not settle in this land,’ so as not to obeythe voice of the Lord, 14‘because we will go intothe land of Egypt, and we shall not see war, and weshall not hear a trumpet sound, and we shall notbe hungry because of bread, and there we will live,’15therefore hear a word of the Lord. Thus did theLord say: If you incline your face towards Egyptand enter to live there, 16it shall also be that thesword, which you fear before it, shall find you inEgypt, and the famine, regarding which you have aconcern before it, shall seize you in Egypt, andthere you shall die. 17And there shall be: all thepeople and all the aliens who have set their facestowards the land of Egypt to live there, they shallexpire by sword and by famine, and there shall notbe any of them that escapes from the evils that Iam bringing upon them, 18because thus did theLord say: Just as my anger dripped on the inhabi-tants of Ierousalem, so my anger will drip on you,when you go into Egypt. And you shall becomeuntrodden and be in subjection and become acurse and a reproach, and you shall see this placeno more. 19This is what the Lord has spoken toyou who remain of Iouda: Do not enter into Egypt.And now in knowing you shall know 20that youhave acted wickedly in your souls in having sent tome, saying, ‘Pray for us to the Lord, and accordingto everything, whatever the Lord speaks to you, wewill do.’ 21And you have not obeyed the voice ofthe Lord by which he sent me to you. 22And nowyou shall expire by sword and by famine in theplace where you desire to go to settle there.”

50 (43.1)And it happened, when Ieremiasstopped saying to the people all the words

of the Lord, with which the Lord had sent him tothem—all these words—2then Azarias son of Maa-saias said, and Ioanan son of Karee and all the men

who had spoken to Ieremias, saying, “Lies! TheLord did not send you to us to say, ‘Do not enterinto Egypt to live there,’ 3but Barouch son of Neriasis inciting you against us in order that you hand usover into the hands of the Chaldeans that they putus to death and that we be exiled to Babylon.”4And Ioanan and all the leaders of the force and allthe people did not obey the voice of the Lord, tosettle down in the land of Iouda. 5And Ioanan andall the leaders of the force took all those remainingof Iouda who had returned to settle down in theland—6the mighty men and the women and therest and the daughters of the king and the soulswhom Nabouzardan had left with Godolias son ofAchikam and the prophet Ieremias and Barouchson of Nerias. 7And they entered into Egypt, be-cause they did not obey the voice of the Lord. Andthey entered into Taphnas.

8 And a word of the Lord came to Ieremias inTaphnas, saying: 9Take some large stones for your-self, and hide them in the entrance to Pharao’shouse in Taphnas in the sight of the men of Iouda.10And you will say, Thus did the Lord say: Behold,I am sending for and will bring King Nabou-chodonosor of Babylon, and he will set his throneover these stones that you have hidden, and he willraise his weapons against thema, 11and he shallenter and strike the land of Egypt, giving

those who are destined for death, to death,and those who are destined for going

into exile, to going into exile,and those who are destined for the

sword, to the sword.12And he shall burn a fire in the houses of theirgods, and he shall set themb on fire and exilethema, and he shall delouse the land of Egypt, as ashepherd delouses his cloak, and he shall depart inpeace. 13And he shall crush the pillars of Heliopo-lis, those in On, and theirc houses he shall burndown with fire.

51 (44.1)The word that came to Ieremias for allthe Judeans living in Egypt, even those set-

tled in Magdolos and in Taphnas and in the landof Pathoures, saying, 2Thus did the Lord, the Godof Israel, say: You have seen all the evils that I havebrought on Ierousalem and on the cities of Iouda.And behold, they are desolate of inhabitants 3be-cause of their wickedness that they committed, toembitter me, by having gone to burn incense toother gods that they did not know. 4And I sent toyou my servants the prophets early in the morning,and I sent, saying, “Do not do the thing of this de-filement that I hated!” 5And they did not listenand did not incline their ear, to turn from theirevils so as not to offer incense to other gods. 6Andmy wrath and my anger dripped, and it burned inthe cities of Iouda and outside of Ierousalem, andthey became a desolation and something untrod-den, as this day. 7And now thus did the LordAlmighty say: Why are you doing great harm toyour souls, to cut off your man and woman, infant

aI.e. Egyptians bI.e. houses cI.e. people's or gods'


ieremias 51(44–45)–52 923

and suckling, from the midst of Iouda so as not tohave any one left, 8to embitter me with the worksof your hands, to offer incense to other gods in theland of Egypt, there where you have come to live,that you be cut off and that you become a curseand reproach among the nations of the earth?9Surely, you have not forgotten the evils of your fa-thers and the evils of the kings of Iouda and theevils of your rulers and the evils of your wives,which they committed in the land of Iouda andoutside of Ierousalem? 10And they have notstopped to this day, and they have not clung to myordinances that I gave before their fathers.

11 Therefore thus did the Lord say: Behold, Iam setting my face 12to destroy all those remainingwho are in Egypt, and they shall fall; by sword andby famine they shall fail from small even to great,and they shall become a reproach and destructionand a curse. 13And I will visit upon those who aresettled in Egypt, as I have visited upon Ierousalem,with sword and with famine, 14and none of thoseremaining of Iouda who sojourn in the land ofEgypt shall be saved to return to the land of Iouda,there to which they hope in their souls to return;they shall not go back, except as escapees.

15 And all the men, who were aware that theirwives were offering incense to other gods, and allthe women, a great gathering, and all the peoplewho settled in Pathoures in the land of Egypt an-swered Ieremias, saying: 16“As for the word thatyou have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, weare not going to hear you, 17because in doing wewill do every word that shall come out of ourmouth, to offer incense to the queen of the sky andto pour out libations to her, just as we and our fa-thers and our kings and our rulers did in the citiesof Iouda and outside of Ierousalem. And we werefilled with bread, and we were well-off and saw noevil. 18But when we left off offering incense to thequeen of the sky, we all were diminished and havefailed by sword and by famine. 19And because wewere offering incense to the queen of the sky andpoured out libations to her—surely, we did notmake cakes for her and poured out libations to herwithout our husbands?”

20 And Ieremias said to all the people, themighty men and the women and all the peoplewho answered him words, saying: 21“As for the in-cense offering that you offered in the cities ofIouda and outside of Ierousalem, you and your fa-thers and your kings and your rulers and the peo-ple of the land, did not the Lord remember it, anddid it not come up in his heart? 22And the Lordcould no longer bear up before the evil of yourdeeds, before the abominations that you commit-ted, and your land became a desolation and some-thing untrodden and a curse, as this day. 23Becauseyou were burning incense and because you sinnedagainst the Lord and did not obey the voice of theLord and did not walk by his ordinances and byhis law and by his testimonies, these evils havealso taken hold of you.”

24 And Ieremias said to the people and thewomen, “Hear a word of the Lord, 25Thus did the

Lord, the God of Israel, say: You wives have spokenwith your mouth and have accomplished withyour hands, saying, ‘In enacting we will enact ouragreements to which we have agreed, to burn in-cense to the queen of the sky and to pour out liba-tions to her.’ In respecting you respected youragreements, and in enacting you enacted! 26There-fore hear a word of the Lord, all Iouda who settledin the land of Egypt: Behold, I swore by my greatname, said the Lord, if my name shall ever be inthe mouth of all Iouda in all the land of Egypt tosay, ‘The Lord lives!’—27because, behold, I amwatchful over them to harm them and not to dogood, and all Iouda, those who live in the land ofEgypt, shall fail by sword and by famine until theyexpire. 28And those who have escaped from thesword shall return to the land of Iouda, few innumber, and those remaining of Iouda, who areestablished in the land of Egypt to sojourn there,shall know whose word will endure! 29And thisshall be the sign that I am going to visit upon youfor evil: 30Thus did the Lord say, Behold, I am giv-ing Ouaphre, king of Egypt, into the hands of hisenemy and into the hands of people that seek hissoul, just as I gave King Sedekias of Iouda into thehands of King Nabouchodonosor of Babylon, hisenemy and one who sought his soul.”

31(45.1) The word that the prophet Ieremiasspoke to Barouch son of Nerias, when he wouldwrite these words in a book from the mouth ofIeremias, in the fourth year of Ioakim son of KingIosias of Iouda: 32(2)Thus did the Lord say with ref-erence to you, O Barouch: 33(3)Because you said,“Woe is me! Woe is me! because the Lord hasadded sorrow to my pain, I slept in groaning, andI found no rest.” 34(4)Say to him, “Thus did theLord say: Behold, I bring down whom I have builtup and pluck up whom I planted. 35(5)And youwill seek great things for yourself. Do not seekthem because, behold, I am bringing evil upon allflesh, says the Lord, but I will give your soul as awindfall in every place, there where you may go.”

52 It being Sedekias’ twenty-first year when hebegan to reign—and he reigned eleven

years in Ierousalem, and his mother’s name wasHamital daughter of Ieremias from Lobena.

4 And it happened in the ninth year of hisreign, in the tenth month, on the tenth of themonth, King Nabouchodonosor of Babylon camewith all his force against Ierousalem, and theyblockaded it and walled it in on four sides, allaround. 5And the city came under siege until theeleventh year of King Sedekias. 6On the ninth ofthe month also the famine took a firm hold in thecity, and there were no loaves for the people of theland. 7And the city was breached, and all the menof war went out by night by the way of the gate be-tween the wall and the outer wall, which was bythe king’s garden, and the Chaldeans were at thecity, all around. And they went in the direction ofAraba. 8And the force of the Chaldeans pursuedafter the king and overtook him across from Ieri-


924 ieremias 52

cho, and all his servants were scattered from him.9And they captured the king and brought him tothe king of Babylon at Deblatha, and he spoke to him in judgment. 10And the king of Babylonslew the sons of Sedekias before his eyes, and heslew all the rulers of Iouda at Deblatha. 11And heblinded the eyes of Sedekias and bound him in fet-ters, and the king of Babylon brought him to Bab-ylon and delivered him to the mill house until theday he died.

12 And in the fifth month, on the tenth of themonth, Nabouzardan the chief cook, who stoodbefore the king of Babylon, came to Ierousalem.13And he set on fire the house of the Lord and thehouse of the king and all the houses of the city,and every great house he set on fire with fire.14And the force of the Chaldeans, which was withthe chief cook, pulled down every wall around Ie-rousalem. 16And the chief cook left a residue of thepeople to be vinedressers and tillers of the soil.

17 And the pillars of bronze that were in thehouse of the Lord and the bases and the bronze seathat was in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeansbroke in pieces and took their bronze and carriedit off to Babylon. 18And the rim and the saucersand the meat hooks and all the bronze vessels withthem with which they were ministering. 19And thechief cook took away the saphphotha and the mas-marothb and the pitchers and the lampstands andthe censers and the ladles, which were cgold goldc

and which were dsilver silverd. 20And as for the twopillars and the one sea and the twelve bronze bullcalves under the sea, which things King Salomonhad made for the house of the Lord, there was noweighing of their bronze. 21And as for the pillars,the height of the one pillar was thirty-five cubits,and a cord of twelve cubits encompassed it, and its

thickness was four fingers all round. 22And uponthem was a bronze cornice, and the excess of theone cornice was five cubits in length, and lattice-work and pomegranates were on the cornice allround; all was of bronze. And the second pillarhad the same, with eight pomegranates to a cubitfor the twelve cubits. 23And there were ninety-sixpomegranates on the one side, and all the pome-granates on the latticework were one hundred, allaround.

24 And the chief cook took the first priest andthe priest ranked second and the three that wereguarding the thresholde 25and one eunuch, whowas overseer of the men of war, and seven men ofname in the presence of the king, who were foundin the city, and the recorder of the forces, who wasrecording for the people of the land, and sixty per-sons of the people of the land, who were found inthe midst of the city. 26And Nabouzardan thechief cook took them and brought them to theking of Babylon at Deblatha. 27And the king ofBabylon struck them at Deblatha in the land ofHemath.

31 And it happened in the thirty-seventh yearafter King Ioakim of Iouda had been exiled, in thetwelfth month, on the twenty-fourth of the month,King Oulaimaradach of Babylon, in the year inwhich he became king, received the head of KingIoakim of Iouda and brought him out the housewhere he was being guarded, 32and he spoke kind-ly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of theother kings who were with him in Babylon. 33Andhe exchanged his prison robe, and he would al-ways eat bread in his presence all the days he lived.34For the allowance was given him always by theking of Babylon, from day to day, until the day hedied.

aHeb = basins bHeb = ? cPossibly all gold dPossibly all silver eway = Zi


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A New English Translation of the Septuagint. 34. Ieremiasccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/34-ieremias-nets.pdf · EDITION OF THE GREEK TEXT The New English Translation of the Septuagint